MANILA, Philippines - Eumir Felix Marcial kicks off the Philippines’ campaign in the AIBA Junior World Boxing Championships as he takes on a tough Armenian opponent in the opener of the tournament in Astana, Kazakhstan tonight.
Marcial, 15, clashes with 52kg campaigner Henrik Hovannisyan of Armenia in one of the matches lined up at Kazakhstan Sports Palace.
“I saw him staring at me while walking after dinner at the hotel as if he wanted to fight me that moment. But I feel it was more of him being afraid of me and just trying to motivate himself. We’ll see when we meet Monday night,” said Marcial.
A gold medalist and a discovery of the Amateur Boxing Association of the Philippines (ABAP) in their latest national championships in Cagayan De Oro City, Marcial will be fighting abroad for the very first time.
“Being abroad doesn’t make me feel afraid. I wanted this chance and when I was told about it last May I considered it an exciting news for me. I’ve waited for this and now it’s only a matter of hours. All I can say is I’m ready,” said Marcial.
Since their arrival last week, three-time Olympian and head coach Romeo Brin liked what he saw when they trained along with Japan, Belarus, Latvia and Pakistan in an AIBA-assigned training schedule and groupings.
“Though they’re young and new to the environment, they showed poise and are very focused with their main objective here and that is first and foremost to win their initial assignment,” said Brin. “It helped the boys a lot that they got to meet and have an idea on the skills of foreign fighters. The boys will be ready by fight night.”
Meantime, 14-year-old South Cotabato native Rence Bryan Magarce is expected to have a tough first assignment as he faces Denis Chmykhin of Russia tomorrow in their three-round 46kg bout.
Chmykhin is a veteran of last year’s European School Boys championships in Bulgaria where he ended up silver medalist after losing to Araz Gulmammadov of Azerbaijan in the 38.5kg finals.
Chymykhin was also a silver medalist in the Russian Junior Nat’l Championships last May.
“He looks too young for me but I will treat him as a real tough opponent and will focus on our bout. I’m thankful about the draw but bottomline is I have to treat every bout as if it’s my last,” said Magarce.
Both Magarce and Marcial drew byes in their respective divisions of this biennial event that will be fought at three rounds with two minutes per round.
Magarce and Marcial will be guaranteed a quarterfinal slot should they be victorious in their initial assignments.