When it comes to boxing in the Philippines, there is and always will be one name synonymous with the sport: Manny Pacquiao. The legendary pugilist is regarded as one of the sport’s best, and is revered at home where he currently sits as a senator.
However, there is a rising star in the country, and while he may never scale the heights of the great “PacMan”, Eumir Felix Marcial could grab gold for his country in Tokyo this year.
Biography
Marcial was born on October 25, 1995 in Zamboanga City. Marcial said he started boxing at the age of seven because his father was head coach of the Zamboanga City boxing team. At the age of 16, he won the International Boxing Association Junior World Championships.
He said his father was instrumental in getting him into the sport in an official Olympic Channel interview.
“He really pushed me towards boxing, and I want to thank him,” said the 25-year-old.
Blow for Marcial as Filipino sensation settles for bronze at Asian Elite
The middleweight represented the Philippines at the 2015, 2017 and 2019 Southeast Asian Games (he is a three-time gold medallist), and a 2018 Asian Games bronze medallist. His most impressive achievement came at the 2019 World Championships where he won a silver medal, however he failed to qualify for the 2016 Summer Olympics in London.
He gave some insights into why he picked this particular sport and repeated some sage advice he received from the legend himself, Manny Pacquiao.
“Why did I even chose this sport? It’s exhausting and painful,” he said in the interview. “I can say that Filipino boxers are good because of the hardships in life.”
He said Pacquiao told him that “the higher you get, the more humble you should be” and that he should never rest on his accomplishments if he thinks he can achieve more in the world of boxing.
Boxing record
According to BoxRec, Marcial has 86 amateur bouts under his belt, of which he has won 68 (16 of them by knockout) and lost 18, and has never been knocked out. His first fight was in 2008 and his most recent fight was a loss at a Tokyo tune-up event, where he was beaten by Uzbekistan’s Jafarov Saidjamshid in the semi-finals of the AIBA Asian Elite Boxing Championships in Dubai. He conceded after the fight that the loss was a “wake-up call” for him moving forward into the Games.
Marcial has long been coveted to join the lucrative world of professional boxing, however said he wants to win gold for the Philippines by fighting in Tokyo 2020 as a promise to his father before fully going pro.
Marcial is signed with Pacquiao’s MP Promotions and previously trained with legendary coach Freddie Roach. He has had one professional bout, a unanimous decision win over American Andrew Whitfield in December of 2020 in Los Angeles. The win came at a rough point in his life as he had just learned that his older brother had died.
In an interview with ESPN before his first professional bout he laid out his boxing plans.
“Turning professional is an important step in my journey to the 2021 Olympics in Tokyo. A lot of the fighters I may face in the Olympics have already turned pro so my professional training with Freddie will keep me at their level of experience when we battle in the Olympics.”
Philippines Air Force service
Marcial is a member of the Philippines Air Force and reportedly receives a small monthly stipend of HK$4,700 as a reservist. He said in a 2020 interview with World Boxing News that he has given seven years service so far.
