Marcial stays focused on Paris Olympics

MANILA, Philippines —  Eumir Marcial will head to his “homecoming” fight against Thailand’s Thoedsak Sinam at the Ninoy Aquino Stadium on March 23 with his potential foes in the Paris Olympics in the back of his mind.

Marcial, in Las Vegas preparing for the Paris Games in July, will fly home on March 11 and will set up camp in Tagaytay City courtesy of Mayor Bambol Tolentino, also president of the Philippine Olympic Committee.

The 28-year-old southpaw is not taking his Thai foe, with a 23-13 record including 19 knockouts, lightly. But the Filipino bronze medalist in the Tokyo Olympics couldn’t take his mind off the coming Olympics as well.

“Even though I am fighting in March, my focus and concentration is on the Paris Olympics,” said Marcial, who’s 4-0 in the professional ranks.

“The competition there (Paris) is very tough since the Cuban super champion Arlan Lopez is there as well as the Chinese (Tuohetaerbieke Tanglatihan) who beat me in Hangzhou (Asian Games),” he said.

“The Ukrainian who beat me in the semis of the Tokyo Olympics (Oleksandr Khyzhniak) is there so it’s a star-studded cast,” said Marcial.

His Thai opponent, also 28, will come here armed and ready to spoil the fun and put a dent on Marcial’s plans for Paris. It will be the latter’s first fight on home soil since the 2019 SEA Games where he won the gold.

Marcial is almost unbeatable with four gold medals in the SEA Games where Thai boxers remain as the biggest thorn on the Filipinos’ side.

He vowed to stop Sinam when they clash before Filipino fight fans, who will get the chance to watch the fight live as an offering of boxing icon and one of Marcial’s biggest supporters – Manny Pacquiao.

“I am looking forward to this homecoming fight because the last time I fought in the country was during the 2019 SEA Games. And I intend to put on a great show,” he said.