Marcial fights through injured knuckle for SEA Games boxing gold

KUALA LUMPUR, Malaysia – Middleweight boxer Eumir Marcial knew there would no tomorrow if he held anything back on Thursday, August 24 in his gold medal match at the 2017 Southeast Asian Games in the Malaysia International Trade and Exhibition Center here. 

So Marcial, a southpaw, threw all he had into every punch, despite suffering from a nagging left knuckle injury. 

“Kahit may injury ako, alam ng mga coaches at ng mga kasamahan ko na may injury ako, masakit ang kamay ko,” he told reporters after his unanimous decision victory over Thai foe Pathomsak Kuttiya to win the first of two boxing gold medals for the Philippines. 

“Pero sabi ko, isip ko ngayon, last na ito. Wala nang bukas, bahala na. Kahit bukas palitan ang kamay ko, basta ngayon, manalo ako.” 

(Even if I have an injury, my coaches and teammates know I have an injury and my hand hurts. I told myself, I thought right now, that this is my last fight. There’s no more tomorrow so whatever goes. Even if they have to change out my hand tomorrow, I need to win now.) 

The 21-year-old who already won a welterweight division gold in the 2015 Games said he injured his left knuckle, the same one he uses for straight jabs, last year during qualifiers for the Rio Olympics. He admitted he was only up to 60% on Thursday. 

“Matagal na injury ko na itong nararamdaman, ilang beses na ginamot pero pababalik-balik pa rin ‘yung injury,” said the Zamboanga City native. “So tinitiis ko na lang talaga kasi ito ‘yung sport ko, ito ‘yung pinili ko na sport. Dapat mag-tiis talaga.” 

(This injury’s been hurting for a long time, and it got better but it kept coming back. So I just endured it because this is my sport, this is the sport I chose. I have no choice but to endure.) 

Marcial’s immediate order of business after his latest win is to get his hand checked and fully healed. 

The SEA Games is his first step toward competing in the Asian Games next year in Jakarta, Indonesia, and then hopefully the 2020 Tokyo Olympics.

“Ngayon pa lang, iniisip ko na dapat mas mag-train ako ng maayos,” said Marcial, also a 2011 World Youth Championships gold medalist in the flyweight division. “Mas doblehin ko pa ang training ko para sa Asian Games.” (As early as now I’m already thinking about training well. I have to double my effort in training for the Asian Games.) – Rappler.com