CHICAGO - In his second pro fight, this time under the bright lights of Las Vegas last Saturday night, Eumir Marcial took more hits than a church bell after Sunday service.
Ears ringing and knees swaying like Japanese noodles, the pride of Zamboanga del Norte peeled himself from the canvas three times in his fight against a rangy Isiah Hart.
Fortunately, there was a happy ending for the Tokyo Olympics bronze medalist.
With both his pristine record and well-being at stake, Marcial roared back with the fury of an angry storm and scored a fourth round TKO after landing a thudding left that put the fear in God on referee Raul Caiz Jr, who quickly intervened to protect Hart.
By suffering three knockdowns, Marcial's ability to take a punch took more bombs than Ukraine on social media.
But Marcial, who just spent four gruelling rounds atop the ring, wasn't about to fight random dudes with fake or burner accounts on the internet. He chose to take it all in stride.
"Ganun talaga ang boxing, eh. Matatamaan talaga tayo," he told me during a telephone interview from Arizona, where he and his lovely wife, Princess, spent some rest and recreation time before heading back to the Philippines in a few days to start training for the SEA Games.
Marcial acknowledged the power Hart wielded but he said he was more stunned than hurt by his foe's blows.
After he was flattened by a right straight down the pike in the opening round, Marcial admitted not seeing the hook that clipped him in Round 2.
"Hindi ko nakita yung suntok," he said while confessing that he was off-balance and out of position several times during the fight, a common occurrence each time a lefty like Marcial squares off with an orthodox fighter such as Hart.
WEIGHT ISSUES
Not a fan of making excuses, Marcial didn't mention weight issues that dehydrated him and significantly slowed down his reflexes and reaction time at fight night.
"There were hitches trying to make weight," Manny Pacquiao (MP) Promotions president Sean Gibbons told SPIN.ph.
Gibbons clarified that while the great Memo Heredia oversaw Marcial's strength and conditioning regimen, it was trainer Jorge Capetillo's job to make sure Eumir made the 160-pound weight limit, which Marcial did at nearly a costly loss.
"There was some bad training in the end and there will be changes," declared Gibbons, who is often referred to as "The Mechanic" for his ability to fix things and get the job done.
As for Marcial's ability to eat leather, Gibbons dismissed it as fair talk but nothing to worry about on their side.
"In his decorated 10-year amateur career, Eumir had only been decked once and all of a sudden he couldn't take the punch?"
In a sport where men and women are allowed to legally lay hands on each other, it's normal to get hit. The key, though, is to get up when you go down.
Another point of emphasis here is that Hart tipped the scales at 161.8 pounds and when he re-hydrated for the bout he bulked up to around 175 to 180, making his fists more heavy, Marcial added.
Again, not an excuse. Just an explanation.
After repping the Philippine colors in Vietnam, where he is expected to bring home the gold medal, Marcial will fly back to the United States and resume his pro career, "sometime in July or August," Gibbons revealed.
HEART AND CHIN
As Frankie Valli and the Four Seasons wailed in a hit song, "Oh, what a night" Marcial had.
Full of intrigue and laced with some scary scenarios along the way.
Obviously, some work needs to be done on defense.
But one thing is clear.
Marcial has a granite chin.
And the bursting, beating giant heart to complement it.
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