PH bet Eumir Marcial barges into World Boxing championship semifinals

FILE – Eumir Felix Marcial (right).

MANILA, Philippines—Eumir Marcial continued to carry the Philippine flag after a dominant unanimous decision win, 5-0, over Seyedshahin Mousavi in the quarterfinals of the Aiba World Boxing Championships Wednesday at Expo Centre in Ekaterinburg, Russia.

The Filipino middleweight, the lone Filipino left in the competition, earned 30-27 scores across all five judges and booked a slot in the semifinals after employing a methodical approach against Iran’s Seyedshahin.

Marcial turned his offense up notch in the third cracking Seyedshahin’s defense with constant two-punch combinations while also evading his opponent’s attacks.

The two-time Southeast Asian Games gold medalist gets a crack at a finals berth on Sept. 20.

Flyweight Carlo Paalam, meanwhile,  crashed out of the tournament after losing to Asian Games gold medalist Amit Panghal, 4-1.

Panghal and Paalam are familiar with each other after they matched up in the 2018 Asian Games where the Indian claimed the gold in Indonesia while the Filipino settled for the bronze.