SEA Games: Eumir Marcial too good, KOs Vietnamese to retain boxing gold

Philippines’ Eumir Felix Marcial celebrates after knocking out Vietnam’s Nguyen Manh Cuong to claim the gold medal during the 30th South East Asian Games 2019 Men’s Middleweight (75 kg). INQUIRER PHOTO/ Sherwin Vardeleon

MANILA, Philippines—Seventy-one seconds was all Eumir Felix Marcial needed.

Marcial retained his middleweight title in the Southeast Asian Games after knocking out Vietnam’s Manh Cuong Nguyen in the first round of men’s boxing final of the 2019 Southeast Asian Games Monday at PICC Forum.

Marcial, who already owns two SEA Games gold medals prior to 2019, left a blazing trail of offense and Nguyen was the unfortunate victim in its wake.

The silver medalist in the 2019 World Championships sent haymaker after haymaker down Nguyen’s way,  prompting the referee to conduct a standing 8-count at the start of the first round.

Just a few seconds later, Marcial was at it again dropping bombs that ultimately knocked Nguyen out.

“I wasn’t technically hyped up, all I did was follow my game plan,” said Marcial in Filpino. “In my experience, I’ve beaten so many hard fighters so I know in myself that I can beat him but I was never complacent. This is boxing and anything can happen like I could get knocked out or los.”