TOKYO - Celebrated middleweight Eumir Marcial made short work of Younes Nemouchi in his Tokyo Olympics debut on Thursday, advancing to the quarterfinals when the referee stopped the fight in the first round due to a bloody cut above the Algerian's eye.
Marcial, 25, decked the underdog Nemouchi with a stinging right hook less than a minute from the opening bell for an eight count and the referee had to step in again later after an accidental clash of heads opened a cut above the Algerian's right eye.
The end, which came at the 2:41 mark of the opening round, came swiftly for a 25-year old Algerian who made it all the way to the round of 16 in Tokyo after being tapped as a late replacement for an injured teammate in the African qualifiers.
The decision was met by protests from Nemouchi's corner, which felt strongly about a head-butt causing the cut that led to the end of the fight.
Marcial admitted a clash of heads led to the cut.
"Unang-una, masaya syempre sa pagkapanalo. Hindi pa ito ‘yung last fight, marami pang fights na darating," said Marcial, who beat Nemouchi in their only previous meeting back in 2018 in Russia.
PH boxers stay perfect
Marcial's victory kept the four-man Philippine team a perfect 5-0 in these Games, which have seen glorious victories by featherweight Nesthy Petecio (2), flyweight Carlo Paalam and flyweight Irish Magno, who fights later in the day.
More importantly, victory validated all the pre-Olympic hype around Marcial, who turned pro and went from Manila to Vegas to Zamboanga to Dubai to Colorado in a turbulent and controversy-filled Games buildup.
Thanks to less than three minutes of work inside the ring, the 25-year old from Zamboanga now stands one win away from a second guaranteed medal in boxing after Petecio's in the women's featherweight division.
The world No. 4 next meets Armenian hero Arman Darchinyan on August 1 with a place in the 69-75-kilogram division at stake - and possibly the most prolific finish for the Philippines in its 97 years of participation in the Games.
Darchinyan should be a familiar foe for Marcial. He is a nephew of former world champion Vic Darchinyan and, like Marcial, has trained with famed US coach Freddie Roach on the way to winning his first pro fight.
“I am so happy that Marcial is back to his old form and with polished new moves he developed in the last three months that he trained with us," said Alliances of Boxing Associations of the Philippines president Ricky Vargas.
"And I believe he will only get better because his mind and body are now fully focused."
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