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| Eumir Marcial stared at Omar Huerta after scoring what would be the knockout blow in their bout. Jhay Otamias |
MANILA—Eumir Marcial may have just done enough to catch a late flight to Nagoya from San Diego as he scored a quick knockout against Omar Huerta in their scheduled Sunday (Philippine Time) bout at the Pechanga Arena in the said Southern Californian metropolitan district.
The end came at the 1:16 mark of Round 3 when Marcial hit the bigger shot out of an exchange of hooks against Huerta that dropped the latter for the first time in his career.
Still wobbling from Marcial's right hook, Huerta failed to make the 10-count, prompting the referee to call it a bout.
"I've been waiting for that punch to counter it because in the second round, he got me with a couple of shots, so I said, 'I need to watch this punch and then counter.' So that's what I did, and then that's the outcome," Marcial said, pertaining to Huerta's left hook that opened his left cheek too for Marcial to connect his knockout blow.
Marcial moved up to 8-0 as a pro with five knockouts, while Huerta fell to 15-2-1.
The question now is if Marcial will fly to Nishio, Japan to join his fellow national team boxers for the Asian Games.
Marcial put himself in a schedule dilemma as his bout against Huerta was set three days before the start of the men's 80-kilogram division of the quadrennial meet.
The Association of Boxing Alliances in the Philippines was ready to replace Marcial with Weljon Mindoro in the said weight division.
However, Mindoro's knockout loss to Carlos Ocampo on Aug. 30 (Philippine Time) prompted ABAP to keep Marcial in its final list of boxers.
ABAP hoped that Marcial would finish Huerta quickly so he can still make the flight to the Aichi Prefecture.
However, as of Saturday, ABAP president Marcus Manalo hinted about moving on without Marcial.
"Mahirap umasa. Very stressful umasa," said Manalo.
"I think malabo na (makahabol). Mabigat din ang kalaban niya. If he wins, ano ang condition niya? Kung makahabol siya, may jetlag pa siyang haharapin."
Initially scheduled as a 10-rounder for Marcial's WBC international middleweight title, the bout was reduced to an eight-round non-title bout, which allowed Marcial to keep his official weight at 160.6 pounds without getting penalized and also get out of Temecula, California sooner for his flight to Nishio.
