Marcial dominates Algerian foe in Tokyo Olympic debut

Eumir Marcial was impressive in his Olympic debut (Ueslei Marcelino/Reuters)

By Leobert Julian A. de la Peña

Philippines’ boxing bet in the Tokyo Olympics Men’s Middleweight category Eumir Marcial just clinched his first win against Algeria’s Younes Nemouchi via first-round technical knockout.

It was a flawless victory for the Filipino as Marcial was quick to introduce his power in the middleweight division.

After one minute of sizing each other up, Marcial went to work and caught Nemouchi with a heavy right hook that sent him down to the canvass.

The confident and poised Marcial then picked the Algerian apart right after the knockdown and just piled on the points for a commanding lead.

Marcial seemed comfortable clashing against Nemouchi’s style as he just knew when to throw the left straight counter every time the Algerian sent a flurry of punches.

Nemouchi tried to chase in terms of points but Marcial’s activity and effective jabs kept him in the driver seat of the Round of 16 clash.

When the first round was about to end, Nemouchi suffered a cut near his eye which his corner struggled to stop from bleeding.

Upon further assessment, the match referee and doctor officially declared the fight stoppage and gave the TKO win to the Filipino pug who will be advancing to the quarterfinals.