EUMIR MARCIAL’s camp is confident they have things figured out in the bid for Olympic gold.
It’s all a matter of Marcial mastering the most fundamental weapon in boxing.
“Eumir has the power already, he got boxing skills and footwork plus speed, but he really needs to develop his jabs heading into the Olympics,” DJ Zamora said. “If he develops his jabs, he’ll be absolutely a complete fighter not only known for his power but also in overall skills.”
Marcial, bronze medalist in the Tokyo Olympics three years ago, says he understands the game plan for the Paris Games set July 26 to Aug. 11.
“Coach Kay [Koroma] has emphasized that I have to focus on developing and throwing a lot of jabs now that I’ll be fighting in the Olympics for the second time,” Marcial said.
“It’s not necessary to knock out my opponent most of the time but I must learn how to fight defensively too or to counter,” he added. “Because jab can give you a win in boxing. So I have to sharpen it during my training for the Olympics.”
Marcial, undefeated in five pro fights with three knockouts, will return to the US next month for a five-month training under USA Boxing coach Koroma and Filipino assistant DJ Zamora.
The 28-year-old Marcial tries to top a field of 17 fighters in the light heavyweight division headed by Cuba’s back-to-back Olympics gold medalist Arlen Lopez and Brazil’s Wanderley Pereira. They took the top two spots in the 2023 Pan American Games.
Nurbek Oralbay of Kazakhstan, gold medalist in the 2018 World Youth Championships, is also in the field along with Turkey’s Kaan Aykutsun, Uzbekistan’s Turabek Khabibullaev, Pylyp Akilov of Hungary, who through the first world Olympic qualification in Bustos, Italy recently.
Others seeing action are 2023 European games qualifiers Salvatore Cavallaro of Italy, Oleksandr Khyzhniak of Ukraine, Croatia’s Gabrijel Veocic and Azerbaijan’s Murad Allahverdiyev, as well as Egypt’s Abdelrahman Oraby, Callum Peters of Australia and China’s Toqtarbek Tanatqan.
Marcial is coming off an impressive fourth-round knockout win against Thailand’s Thoedsak Sinam in his homecoming light heavyweight bout on Saturday at the Ninoy Aquino Stadium.
Image credits: Wendell Alinea