LAS VEGAS – Olympian Eumir Marcial returned to the ring with a bang after a third-round stoppage of Bernard Joseph in their eight-round bout at middleweight on Saturday at the MGM Grand Garden Arena.
The 29-year-old Filipino had Joseph in trouble beginning in the second round, before finally finishing him off in the third with a straight left following a barrage of combinations.
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The American tried to get up on wobbly legs, but was waived off by the referee for a technical knockout win in the opening bout of the Manny Pacquiao-Mario Barrios undercard.
Official time was 1:55 of the third round.
"Alam ko hind na tatayo, naduling na, e," said Marcial afterwards, adding he set up Joseph with body shots before delivering the coup de grace.
A bronze medalist in the Tokyo Olympics, Marcial improved to 6-0 overall with 4 KOs as he hardly showed the effects of a layoff of more than a year to prepare for last year’s Paris Olympics.
The Zamboanga native initially decked the 35-year-old American with a right hand after hurting him with a series of hard combinations.
It was just a matter of time then before Marcial delivered the finishing touch against Joseph, who fell to an 11-3-1 record (5 KOs).
"Nung tumama yung hook ko alam ko makukuha ko na," said Marcial of the second-round knockdown.
Marcial last fought in March of 2024 with a fourth round knockout of Thai Thoedsak Sinam at the Ninoy Aquino Stadium before focusing on training for his second Olympic bid.
Unfortunately, he bowed out in the opening round after being outpointed by Turabek Khabibullaev of Uzbekistan and failed to approximate the bronze medal he won in Tokyo four years before.
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