Filipino boxer Eumir Felix Marcial will shift his focus to his Olympic gold medal dream after his supposed professional boxing fight later this month was cancelled.
According to Philippine Olympic Committee (POC) president Abraham Tolentino, Marcial is heading back to the country to prepare for the Hangzhou Asian Games, slated from September 23 to October 8.
“Eumir will be coming home from the US as soon as possible to join the national boxing team and work on his Australian visa,” said Tolentino.
Tolentino brokered Marcial’s availability for the Asian Games as it served as a qualifier for the 2024 Paris Olympics. He said that it would be a tough campaign for the Tokyo Olympics bronze medal winner.
“He will be fighting at 81 kg (light heavyweight) because the 71-kg class (middleweight) was scratched from the Hangzhou program,” Tolentino said.
“He also needs to reach the final after it was decreed that only the boxing finalists in Hangzhou will qualify for Paris and no longer the traditional semifinals cut off,” he added.
Marcial, for his part, said he is aware of the challenge and vowed to go all out for his Olympic dream.
“It’s now or never,” said the 27-year-old boxer from Zamboanga City.
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