MANILA – Tokyo Olympic-bound Filipino boxer Eumir Marcial is set for his professional boxing debut as he faces American fighter Andrew Whitfield in a four-round middleweight division bout today at the Microsoft Theater in Los Angeles, California, United States.
The professional boxing debut match of Marcial is part of his preparations for the Tokyo Olympics next year as he will try to be the first athlete to win a gold medal for the Philippines.
“Sobrang ready na po tayo,” said the 25-year-old Marcial in an interview with ONE Sports’ Power and Play. “‘Yung training, sobrang ganda at masasabi ko, kundisyon tayo pagdating sa laban.”
Marcial, who signed a six-year contract with MP Promotions in July, was also thankful to veteran boxing coach Freddie Roach, who developed his skills during his almost two months of training there.
“Sobrang dami po na naayos, kumbaga ‘yung mga suntok ko. ‘Yung dapat, kung gaano ako ka-agresibo doon sa laban,” Marcial said.
“Sobra, doble ‘yung agresibo ko pero hindi ‘yung nasasayang ‘yung suntok ko. Mas na-practice po ‘yung accuracy ko, ‘yung power at ‘yung speed,” he added.
MP Promotions president Sean Gibbons, for his part, said Whitfield will be a good first test for the heavy-handed Filipino, who has not fought inside the ring since last March.
“(This) is still just part of his progression for the Tokyo 2021 Olympics,” said Gibbons. “Andrew is from Idaho, just a tough, rough MMA fighter-slash-boxer. Just a real good style, comes to rumble, comes to get in your face and likes to fight.”
“He’s fine-tuning what he already had,” Gibbons added. “He went to the Freddie Roach school of boxing and as you progress, you learn all these things. It’s really like going to school, and Eumir has done a great job of learning a lot to this point.”
The 29-year-old Whitfield will be entering the ring with a 3-1-0 win-loss-draw ring record in the bout. He last fought in November 2019, beating a debuting Adam Smith via decision./PN
