OLYMPIAN Eumir Marcial survived two knockdowns and a shaky finish to eke out a majority draw against Eddy Colmenares of Venezuela in the main supporting bout of the Thrilla in Manila 50th anniversary celebration on Wednesday night.
Marcial rose from a pair of knockdowns in the third and 10th round to overcome the challenge of the hard-hitting Venezuelan in their 10-round middleweight slugfest at the Araneta Coliseum.
READ Jerusalem outpoints Kuse to retain WBC title in 'Thrilla' mainer
The Tokyo Olympics bronze medalist won it on two of the judges’ scorecards at 95-93, while the third one had the bout even at 94-94.
His seventh pro career win (4 KOs) served as a fitting birthday gift as Marcial turned 30 on the same day.
But the Filipino Olympian had to endure the power of the 28-year-old Venezuelan, who sent Marcial to the canvas twice, the last time in the waning seconds of the final round following a solid left-right combination.
In hacking out the close victory, Marcial won the WBC International middleweight title, though plans are already afoot about a possible rematch.
The action-packed fight stole the thunder from the main event pitting WBC minimumweight champion Melvin Jerusalem against Siyakholwa Kuse of South Africa. Jerusalem retained his title belt via unanimous decision.
The back-and-forth action of the Marcial-Colmenares brawl also evoked memories of the Thrilla in Manila in 1975 held at the same venue featuring heavyweight legends Muhammad Ali and Joe Frazier.
Ali retained the heavyweight championship after Frazier’s corner refused to let him continue the fight at the end of round of 14.
The dramatic bout was described by Ali as the ‘closest thing to dying.’
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