Filipino middleweight boxer Eumir Marcial can’t find a better place than Thailand as he enters the crucial stage of his preparations for the Tokyo Olympics in July.
“This is the best place for him,” said Don Abnett, the Australian consultant of the Association of Boxing Alliances in the Philippines, of the training camp in Thailand.
Close to a dozen Filipino boxers, including the three others bound for the Tokyo Olympics, have been training at the Thailand National Sports Center in Muaklek since March. Marcial is training in Zamboanga.
Marcial, who trained for six months under a professional setup in Los Angeles, has yet to join the Philippine team in Thailand, but is committed to see action in the Asian Elite Championships in Dubai on May 21 to June 1.
Irish Magno, Nesthy Petecio and Carlo Paalam, who are all Tokyo-bound, are skipping the Dubai meet because of strict quarantine protocols that may stymie their training.
“But I encourage him (Marcial) to join our training. The best thing for him is to be with us,” said Abnett, joined in Thailand by Pinoy coaches led by Boy Velasco and Ronald Chavez.
Abnett assured Marcial of quality sparring partners in Thailand, much better than what he has in his hometown in Zamboanga right now.
“They have good boys here, the training is second to none and it would be good for Marcial,” Abnett told Tuesday’s online Philippine Sportswriters Association Forum.
Joining the webcast presented by San Miguel Corporation, MILO, Amelie Hotel Manila, Braska Restaurant, and the Philippine Amusement and Gaming Corporation were ABAP secretary-general Ed Picson, Philippine Sports Commission board member Ramon Fernandez and Chavez.
Picson welcomed the assurance from Marcial, a strong bet to win a medal in Tokyo, that he would proceed to Thailand from Dubai to join the Philippine team.
Also vying in Dubai are Josie Gabuco, Maricel dela Torre, Mark Lester Durens, Marvin Tabamo, Junmilardo Ogayre, Jere Samuel dela Cruz and John Paul Panuayan.
“We’re happy he said he’s going to Thailand. We appreciate that. But we’re hoping that he’s doing well in Zamboanga where he’s training under (ABAP) coach Jerson Nietes and sparring with his cousin,” said Picson in the Smart-powered Forum and Upstream Media as official webcast partner.
“In Thailand he can spar with Olympic boxers and not professional boxers. Sana nga nasa Thailand na siya. He previously said he wants to go to Dubai on his own because his manager knows people there. But now he’s saying he will travel with the team,” added Picson.
Fernandez, also chef-de-mission of the Philippine team to the 31st SEA Games in Hanoi in November, assured Marcial of government support and urged him to focus on the Olympics.
“Just stay focused. No distractions,” said Fernandez.
