INTERNATIONAL matchmaker Sean Gibbons expressed confidence and caution as Tokyo Olympian Eumir Felix Marcial climbs the ring Saturday (Sunday in Manila) for his third professional fight in the US.
Gibbons, who heads former senator Manny Pacquiao’s MP Promotions, expects Marcial to be a better middleweight after ridding himself of weight issues that saw him wobble at times during his second professional fight last April.
“We haven’t seen the best of Eumir [Marcial] yet,” Gibbons told BusinessMirror Wednesday. “He had a seeming problem with his weight and he had no endurance when guys threw punches at him.”
Marcial, 26, takes on American Steve Pichardo in an undercard of the Jerwin Ancajas-Fernando Daniel Martinez rematch for the International Boxing Federation super flyweight championship at the Dignity Sports Park in Carson City, California.
It will be his third fight as a pro after a four-rounder with Andrew Whitfield in December 2020 in Los Angeles which he won by unanimous decision and a tall 6-foot-2 Isiah Hart, also a four-rounder 16 months later in Las Vegas.
Against Hart, Marcial showed signs of losing his wind and was almost knocked down. He, however, managed a technical knockout win in the fourth round.
The Marcial-Pichardo fight will be a non-title six-rounder and Gibbons has his reservations.
The 26-year-old Pichardo, Gibbons said, has 11 pro fights—8-2-1 win-loss-draw record with two knockouts—and that could work to the American’s advantage.
“He is fighting a tough guy with 11 professional fights, so it’s not going to be easy,” Gibbons said.
But Marcial’s punching power could work well against Pichardo.
“With that kind of punching power, I know he can knockout anyone, anytime,” Gibbons said. “I just hope he has a good fight, he wins convincingly and has a clean fight to get into next level.”
Marcial’s trainers, Gibbons added, also tinkered with his regimen and nutrition.
“He changed his diet plans and enhance his training, so I expect improvement on Sunday,” Gibbons said. “I know that he also adjusted very well after that second pro bout.”
