Eumir Marcial reaches Asian Elite Boxing semis as foe pulls out
Eumir Marcial in the Asia/Oceania boxing Olympic qualifiers. ABAP PHOTO
MANILA, Philippines—Eumir Marcial reached the semifinals of the ASBC Asian Elite Men’s and Women’s Boxing Championships without breaking a sweat after his opponent failed to make it to their scheduled bout Wednesday.
Mongolia’s Otgonbaatar Byamba-Erdene didn’t make it to their middleweight bout at Le Meridien Hotel in Dubai after he suffered an injury in his fight against Iraq’s Ridha Talib Jabbar in the preliminaries.
Marcial, who received a bye to the knockout stages, is thus assured of at least a bronze medal in the continental tournament.
Already set to go the 2020 Tokyo Olympics, Marcial will next face Jafarov Saidjamshid of Uzbekistan who is coming off a dominating 5-0 win over Kyrgyzstan’s Omurbek Bekzhigit.
Marcial is the top-seeded middleweight in the tournament and is just one of four Filipinos who have advanced to the semifinals.
Light flyweight Mark Lester Durens and bantamweight Junmilardo Ogayre are already in the medal rounds after their victories over Mansour Khalefah and Rukmal Prassana, respectively.
Former World champion Josie Gabuco, who earned a bye to the quarterfinals, will face Uzbekistan’s Gulasal Sultonalieva in the semifinals.
Marcial, who has one professional fight under his belt, is preparing for his first Olympic stint in July.
