OPERATION: MARCIAL MAKEOVER
POC leaves matter to ABAP
Unless they ask for our assistance
Philippine Olympic Committee (POC) Abraham Tolentino is leaving it up to the Association of Boxing Alliances of the Philippines (ABAP) to take Eumir Marcial temporarily away from the hands of Freddie Roach so the Tokyo Olympic qualifier can reunite with his local coaches in Thailand soon.
“That’s the ABAP’s call,” Tolentino told Daily Tribune in a message yesterday afternoon.
“Unless they (ABAP) ask for our assistance.”
The ABAP just received the travel documents of the boxers and coaches from the Thai embassy and if everything goes well, the team will fly to Bangkok on 10 March for a month-long training camp.
The ABAP leadership believes it is important that Marcial, who will fight in the powerhouse middleweight class, gets to reacquaint himself with the “amateur-style” of fighting in preparation for the Olympics.
Marcial, 25, has been in the US, working under Roach at the Wild Card Boxing Club in Hollywood, since October last year.
Before 2020 came to a close, he formally fought professionally, beating Andrew Whitfield on a four-round decision in Los Angeles.
A second fight is being lined up for the hard-hitting southpaw in April by MP Promotions chief Sean Gibbons.
While waiting for the confirmation, Marcial is busy working under Roach and sparring thrice a week to keep himself in shape.
Marcial secured his Olympic ticket after topping the Asia-Oceania qualifying slugfest in Amman, Jordan, a year ago.
The Jakarta 2018 Asian Games bronze medalist and three-time Southeast Asian Games gold medalist, Marcial placed second in the world championships in Russia in 2019, something that didn’t go unnoticed by international promoters.
He first caught the fancy of ringsiders when he won the 2011 World Junior championships in Astana, Kazakhstan.