DOWN goes one of the country's top medal bets in the Paris Olympics.
Eumir Marcial’s bid to improve on his bronze medal finish in Tokyo came to a crashing halt early Wednesday morning as he dropped a unanimous decision loss to Turabek Khabibullaev of Uzbekistan and crash out in the round of 16 phase of the men's 80kg class at the North Paris Arena.
The 28-year-old struggled against the young and taller Uzbek who was making his Olympic debut and hardly under the radar in the stacked-up light-heavyweight class.
The loss was a shocking one for the Filipino bet, one of the medal hopes for Team Philippines following his bronze finish in Japan four years ago as a middleweight.
Expectations were high on Marcial, seeded seventh here, who was the first of the five member of the national boxing team to qualify in Paris following his silver medal finish in the Hangzhou Asian Games in 2023.
But the highly-touted boxer just can’t seem to overcome the Uzbek’s size, who enjoyed a five-inch height advantage and kept the Filipino at bay with his snappy jab to put that lengthy reach to good use.
"Talo tayo (5-0.) I-timing mo yung hook (mo)," coach Ronald Chavez told Marcial, a southpaw, in the corner after the first round as the Filipino found himself trailing in the judges' scorecards.
With the 20-year-old Khabibullaev in command for the first two rounds by taking all but one of the judges' scorecards, Marcial tried to go for broke in the third, but just couldn't seem to find that rythym and vaunted power that would change the complexion of the match.
"Kailangan makuha mo yung third round. Kasabot ka (naiintindihan mo), Eumir," Chavez reminded Marcial, who seemed to be at a loss at that point just before the final round.
After three rounds, all five judges gave the nod to Khabibullaev, who now move a win away of a podium finish in his first shot in the quadrennial showcase.
The Uzbek faces reigning Olympic champion Arlen Lopez of Cuba in the next round.
A two-time Olympic gold medalist, Lopez won over Kaan Aykutsun of Turkey in similar fashion 5-0.
With the loss, the fight for the elusive Philippine boxing gold now lies in the shoulders of Nesthy Petecio, Aira Villegas, and the debuting Hergie Bacyadan and Carlo Paalam.
Earlier, Petecio was impressive in her round of 32 match against JIndia's Jaismine Lamboria, 5-0.
Meanwhile, Paalam and Bacyadan will both make their respective Paris debuts on Wednesday.
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