PARIS bound light heavyweight boxer Eumir Felix Marcial is now in top fighting condition, ready to take on Thai slugger Thoedsak Sinam on Saturday in their eight-rounder main event bout at the Ninoy Aquino Stadium.
After eight days of training and sparring sessions at the Combat Arena in Tagaytay City since arriving from Las Vegas, the 28-year-old Tokyo Olympics bronze medalist is set to arrive in Manila on Thursday as they officially wrapped up their one-week training camp in Tagaytay.
According to Marcial’s wife Princess, also a former amateur fighter, American Kay Koroma’s assistant trainer DJ Zamora will be handling the four-time Southeast Asian Games champion in Manila.
“We will be finishing our training later here in Tagaytay before we go to Manila tomorrow. So far, it’s the training program of coach Kay that we followed,” Princess said, referring to Olympic amateur coach Koroma who trained many Olympians before like world champion Shakur Stevenson.
“Coach K sent coach DJ Zamora to supervise Eumir’s training.”
Marcial, the first Filipino boxer to qualify for the Paris Olympics, is undefeated in four bouts with two knockouts as a professional fighter.
He bagged the silver medal in the light heavyweight final match after losing via split decision to China’s hometown bet Tuohetaerbieke Tanglatihan at the Hangzhou 19th Asian Games in China.
He spent most of his training and conditioning in Las Vegas before returning to Manila on March 13.
Philippine Olympic Committee (POC) President Abraham “Bambol” Tolentino, meanwhile, was impressed with what he saw during Marcial’s training at the Combat Arena, saying that the Zamboanga City warrior was physically and mentally prepared.
“Eumir [Marcial] is really tough and he’s ready for action after I saw his training here in our Combat Arena,” Tolentino, also the Tagaytay City mayor, told BusinessMirror on Wednesday. “He’s very sharp, fast and those punches are solid.”
Marcial’s Tagaytay training camp was arranged by Tolentino prior to his arrival in Manila last week.
Sinam, 28, has a 23-13 record with 19 knockouts.
The other Filipino boxers who have qualified for the Paris games are women’s featherweight Nesthy Petecio, a silver medalist in Tokyo Olympics in 2021, and women’s flyweight Aira Villegas.