Eumir Marcial survived Venezuelan knockout artist Eddy Colmenares in a 10-round slugfest that showed glimpses of ‘Thrilla in Manila’ a half century ago.
Facing the biggest test of his young pro career, Marcial showed great resolve after overcoming a knockdown in the third and another in the final round.
‘He told me during the weigh-in that our fight we’ll be an all-out war,’ said Marcial, who celebrated his 30th birthday with a gutsy victory late Wednesday night in a middleweight special attraction that lived up to its billing. ‘That’s exactly what happened.’
‘He was a very strong opponent but the support I got from the crowd made a big difference. It kept me going to pull off the win,’ he added.
Marcial won by majority decision and improved to 7-0 with four knockouts.
The Olympic bronze medalist also dealt Colmenares his first loss. Colmenares came into the fight 11-0 with all of his wins by knockout.
Earlier, another unbeaten Filipino prospect in Carl Jammes Martin kept his winning run going.
And like Marcial, Martin had to dig deep after suffering a third-round knockdown before coming away with a unanimous decision win over Thailand’s Aran Dipaen in their 10-round super bantamweight bout.
The pride of Lagawen, Ifugao upped his mark to 27-0, 20KOs.
Former unified world champion Marlon Tapales also emerged victorious following a sixth-round knockout of Venezuela’s Fernando Toro.