EUMIR FELIX MARCIAL will have to choose his fights starting in 2023 but keep his dream of winning gold in Paris 2024, MP Promotions head Sean Gibbons advised the Tokyo Olympics bronze medalist.
“I feel in 2023 that Eumir [Felix Marcial] goes full time living and training in the US, now that he’s fully committed to chasing his goal of a world championship,” said Gibbons, who’s in town for the Blow-By-Blow boxing promotion of former senator Manny Pacquiao and former world champion Gerry Peñalosa.
That meant Marcial would have to forego the Southeast Asian Games which Cambodia is hosting in May.
“He [Marcial] has been dominating the SEA Games since 2015,” Gibbons said, “but it’s up to him, still.”
Marcial has won four straight SEA Games men’s middleweight gold medal since 2015. In 2020, he turned pro and has won three fights—two four-rounders and one six-rounder via knockout—to sandwich his bronze in Tokyo last year.
Gibbons, however, stressed that the Hangzhou Asian Games in September would do Marcial pretty well. The Games are a qualifier for Paris.
He said that the pride of Zamboanga City would have to be based in Las Vegas under the watchful eyes of trainer Jorge Capetillo and conditioning Coach Angel Memo Heredia.
“He must do what he needs to do—stay in the US, train and prepare himself for a world championship” Gibbons said. “He cannot fight in the US and leave for two months. He must focus on one thing.”
Marcial will undergo a three-month camp in Las Vegas for a possible eight-rounder in January or February. He’ll gradually move to a 10-rounder and perhaps go for a minor title after that, according to Gibbons.
“Perhaps a couple of fights in eighth rounds and winning a couple of 10-rounders for an international belt that will bring him up the rankings,” he said. “By then, we can check if he’s ready for a world title in 2024.”
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