Eumir Marcial made a winning start to his 2020 Tokyo Olympics campaign as the Filipino boxer made a triumphant debut after dispatching Younes Nemouchi of Algeria via stoppage in the Round of 16 of the men’s middleweight division at the Kokugikan Arena on Thursday, July 29.
Marcial made fast work of Nemouchi, finishing the fight in the first round after landing strong blows and knocking down his Algerian opponent.
Marcial was aggressive right away, landing clean left straights that shook the Algerian to his core. The muscular Filipino puncher then landed a tremendous right hook on his opponent, knocking him out.
At the 1:07 mark, the referee called a halt to the action to allow the ringside doctor to examine a nasty gash on Nemouchi’s right brow that the official said was caused by a Marcial punch. With 19 seconds left in the first round, the referee drew the doctor’s attention again, and the Filipino middleweight doubled down on his onslaught.
With the wound too big, the fight was halted giving the stoppage victory to Marcial via referee stoppage.
“I knocked him down with my right hook then there was an accident with a headbutt. The referee saw the cut was big so the fight was stopped,” said Marcial.
“I was comfortable in my first fight but I’ll be better in my next fight. After he was cut, I relaxed a little bit because I wanted to warm up a little bit more in the second round but the cut stopped the fight,” added Marcial.
Marcial will now compete in the quarterfinals, where a win over Armenia’s Arman Darchinyan on Sunday, August 1, will guarantee him a bronze medal.