During their staredown a day before their boxing match, Eumir Marcial and Eddy Colmenares promised war in their World Boxing Council international middleweight title fight.
And the two did not disappoint early Thursday.
In easily the best fight of the night thus far, the two fighters were left bloodied and bruised, but it was Eumir Marcial who ran away with the title via majority decision.
Marcial survived two knockdowns in the third and 10th rounds to get the victory.
‘Grabe talaga, sabi ko. Ang tibay, ang tibay ni Colmenares. Talagang pumunta siya dito para punin yung panalo at nakita naman natin kung gano katibay,’ he said.
‘Binigay ko yung best ko para i-knockout pero grabe, ako po yung na-knockdown sa lakas ng kalaban natin,’ he added.
A judge scored in 94-94, while the two others had it 95-93 in favor of the Filipino.
The two boxers exchanged blows right from the get-go, with both of them landing shots against each other.
But the first knockdown on Marcial came in the third round, with mere seconds remaining in the round, as Colmenares’ combination sent Marcial crashing to the canvas.
The Filipino then took the knee to recover, as the referee counted.
Marcial, though, came back stronger, unleashing a flurry of shots as well as the crowd cheered for him.
He tried to go for the kill in the fourth, but could not put his opponent to bed.
The two traded combinations and power punches, with Marcial even hurting his opponent with a body shot and a barrage of head shots.
However, Colmenares would not go down easily despite Marcial’s constant pressure.
And, with less than 30 seconds left in the final round, Marcial was actually winning the round with clean punches to the head.
But the Venezuelan connected on a one-two combo that sent the Olympian to the canvas with 30 seconds to go.
After beating the 10-count, Marcial still exchanged blows but the rang shortly after.
The two fighters raised their hands as they waited for the judges’ score, and when the result was announced, Marcial let out a scream as he celebrated.
‘Habang lumalaban po ako, isa lang yung naririnig ko yung sigaw ng mga tao. Yun yung nagbibigay ng lakas sa akin. So maraming maraming salamat po sa inyong lahat,’ he said.
‘Ang hirap na makisabay sa kanya dahil matangkad siya and then pressure fighter. Nag-stick ko lang yung game plan po namin. Sinunod lang po namin yung game plan na puntos lang, makuha ko lang din yung timing ko. So yun yung ginawa namin eh,’ he added.
‘Ang hirap magkisabay sa kanya dahil matibay, malakas. So ginawa namin yung puntos lang, yung score, yung smarts mo. Sabi naman ang kasamahan ko, mas magaling ka dyan. Olympian ka. Gamitin mo lang yung talent mo. Score lang, score lang. So yun yung ginawa namin. Puntos-puntos lang at siyempre nakuha natin yung panalo.’
The Filipino Olympic bronze medalist, thus, rose to an undefeated record of 7-0 (win-loss), while Colmenares rose to 11-3-1 (win-loss-draw).