For now, Eumir Felix Marcial won’t be seeking fights against the top two middleweight fighters Canelo Alvarez and Gennady Golovkin.
Marcial believes that he needs to more preparation before he can face them in the ring.
The 24-year-old Marcial said he needs to go down in weight when he gets ready for his first professional fight this October.
“Hindi ko muna iniisip iyun. Alam ko malayo pa iyun. Ang dami pang aayusin para sa aking mga laban,” said Marcial.
Marcial, who is one of five national athletes who can earn the country’s first Olympic gold medal in Tokyo next year, is getting ready to go on the ring for three professional fights before the Olympics next year.
His promoter Sean Gibbons is making arrangements so that three bouts against not-so-prominent fighters will happen to allow him to stay prepared for the Olympics.
And as he prepares for the Olympiad, going down in weight is among his priorities.
“Iyung middleweight, ito po iyung fit sa akin. Medyo mataas pa po ang timbang ko,” said Marcial.
He was heavier when he joined the Olympic qualifiers in Amman, Jordan last March, when he beat Abilkhan Amankul of Kazakhstan via a split decision victory for the crown last March.
Marcial’s chance to qualify for the Olympics came when he hurdled Ashish Kumar of India via a split decision victory in the semifinals.
He said he has no issues in the going down in weight, because this will help keep him in shape as well.
Álvarez is a four-division world champion, having held, the World Boxing Association, The Ring and lineal middleweight titles, and the WBA super middleweight titles since 2018.
Golovkin is known by his nickname “GGG” or “Triple G”, is a Kazakhstani professional boxer.
This two-time middleweight world champion has held the International Boxing Federation and International Boxing Organization titles since 2019.
For now, Gibbons is not keen on setting a fight for Marcial against these two.
Marcial will soon be flying to Los Angeles to train, and most of his fights will be handled with the help of promoters from Premier Boxing Championships, the same outfit which took care of most of Manny Pacquiao’s fights in the US.