Eumir Marcial waltzes to semis of Asian Boxing Championships

MANILA, Philippines – Tokyo-bound Eumir Marcial barged into the semifinals without breaking a sweat as his Mongolian foe Otgonbaatar Byamba-Erdene pulled out due to a shoulder injury in the ASBC Asian Men’s and Women’s Boxing Championships in Dubai Wednesday night.

Byamba-Erdene, also a professional boxer like Marcial, withdrew after hurting his shoulder during his preliminary round victory over Iraqi Ridha Talib Jabbar in the middleweight class.

The walkover win sent the 2019 World Championship silver medalist and Southeast Asian Games gold medal winner to the semis versus Uzbek Jafarov Saidjamshid, a 5-0 winner over Omurbek Bekzhigit Uulu of Kyrgyzstan.

It also assured Marcial of at least a bronze along with three other Filipinos — flyweight Mark Lester Durens, bantam Junmilardo Ogayre and former world and light fly women’s champion Josie Gabuco.

Gabuco, as the top seed, advanced straight to the semis against Uzbekistan’s Gulasal Sultonalieva, whom the former was facing at press time.

“We have four in the semis. Josie and Eumir haven’t fought yet, both seeded No. 1 in their respective weight categories,” said Association of Boxing Alliances in the Philippines (ABAP) secretary-general Ed Picson.

Durens tackles Daniyal Sabit of Kazakhstan while Ogayre clashes with world champion and Asian Games gold medalist Mirazizbek Mirzahalilov of Uzbekistan.

Durens overpowered Kuwaiti Mansour Khalefah in a first-round RSC (referee stopped contest) win while Ogayre dominated Sri Lankan Rukmal Prasanna, 5-0, to secure their semis spots Tuesday.

Marcial, Durens and Ogayre fight tonight for a spot to the gold medal round.