Eumir Marcial boxed his way to bag the Philippine’s only gold medal in boxing in the Southeast Asian Games.
Marcial showed an even more aggressive style of boxing to win against Indonesian Maikhel Muskita in the 80-kilogram division.
Both fighters were on near par with each other in terms of performance in the first two rounds. However, the 30-year-old Marcial smelled blood on the 1:45 mark of the third round, landing two left hooks, one on the body and one on the jaw that sent Muskita to the ropes.
When the final bell rang, four of the five judges voted in favor of the Filipino and one for the Indonesian thus granting Marcial the victory via split decision.
Eumir Marcial’s victory did not only gave the Philippines the elusive gold medal in the boxing category. It also avenged Jay Brian Baricuatro, Flint Jara and Aira Villegas who all settled for a silver medal after being defeated by their opponents from Thailand.
This is Marcial’s fifth career Olympic medal in the same weight category.
