SEA Games: Last 3 Filipino boxers standing vow all-out finals stand
Charly Suarez of the Philippines dominates Khir Akyazlan Bin Azmi of Malaysia in the quarterfinals of the light welterweight class men’s boxing competition of the 29th Southeast Asian Games at the MITEC Hall 8 in Kuala Lumpur. Suarez prevailed by unanimous decision. CONTRIBUTED PHOTO/SEA GAMES POOL
Eumir Felix Marcial was emotional in semis win, he wanted to avenge fallen teammates. Photo by Marc Reyes
KUALA LUMPUR—The three Filipino boxers left in the fight vowed to go all out for a gold medal on Thursday.
Bantamweight Mario Fernandez, light middle Eumir Felix Marcial and light heavy John Nobel Tupas Marvin said they won’t pull any punches against their respective finals opponents in the 29th Southeast Asian Games here.
Filipino-British Marvin, a former army boxer for Great Britain, said he will be ready for the boisterous Malaysian crowd at MITEC Hall 8 when he takes on local boy Adli Hafidz Mohd Pauzi for the crown.
“At the end of the day, you do what you gotta do, you exchange punches and don’t worry about anything,” said the 6-foot SEA Games rookie.
Pauzi won over Singapore’s Muhamad Dinie Hakeem via decision despite a generally lackluster performance here he hardly showed punching skills and movements.
That should play to Marvin’s advantage as he loves to throw haymakers and doesn’t stand back from a full-blown, phone-booth slugfest.
Marcial, who was in tears as he talked about his three teammates who suffered dubious losses, will be out for payback.
“I will be all-out sir,” said Marcial in Filipino. “I will go for a clear win and will be punching for all my teammates who lost by questionable decisions.”
Marcial, the 21-year-old from Zamboanga City, will battle Pathomsak Kuttiya, one of the five Thais who made it to the six gold medal matches.
“We are all affected (by the teammates’ losses),” said Fernandez in Filipino. “But we don’t control the judges. We control ourselves so I will just fight on.”
Fenandez, who hails from Bukidnon, will face Thai Chatchai Butdee, who went from flyweight to bantamweight.
The Philippines won five gold medals in the last SEA Games in Singapore.
