Eumir Marcial trains double time with Freddie Roach


OLYMPIC-BOUND - Olympic-bound boxer Eumir Felix Marcial, center, strikes a pose with veteran trainer Freddie Roach, left, and 1992 Olympian Pepe Reilly of America at the Wild Card Boxing Club in Los Angeles, California. (Photo from Eumir Felix Marcial's Instagram account)

Tokyo-bound Filipino boxer Eumir Felix Marcial works tirelessly as he prepares for the Olympics in July.

Marcial, who is currently based in Los Angeles, California, shared recent updates on social media regarding his training under the helm of renowned coach Freddie Roach at the Wild Card Boxing Club.

In his Instagram post Thursday, Feb. 25, Marcial trained alongside Roach and former Olympian Pepe Reilly of America, who competed in the men's welterweight event of the 1992 Summer Olympics.

"Couldn't thank these people enough for their help," wrote the 25-year-old Marcial with the hashtag #roadtotokyo2021.

Two days ago, Marcial had 18 rounds of sparring, punching bag, punching mitt, and workout sessions.

Ricky Vargas, president of the Association of Boxing Alliances in the Philippines (ABAP), earlier said the Zamboanga-native boxer had expressed desire to join the national boxing team for a training camp in Thailand.

Read: Vargas confident of Marcial’s Olympic bid

ABAP, through secretary-general Ed Picson, said Marcial's second professional fight has low chances of coming into fruition which could pave the way for the prized boxer's availability in the Thailand camp.

Read: Marcial eyes March fight, then return home for bubble training

Marcial won his pro debut by scoring a hard-earned unanimous decision win against American Andrew Whitfield.

The rest of the Philippine boxing team are holed up at the Inspire Sports Academy in Calamba, Laguna under a bubble setup.

The likes of Nesthy Petecio and Carlo Paalam, given their current world rankings in their respective divisions, are likely to join Marcial (middleweight) and Irish Magno (flyweight) in the Tokyo Games after the Olympic Boxing Task Force (BTF) decided to scrap the World Qualifiers and base the qualification through rankings instead

Petecio is ranked No. 2 in women's featherweight while Paalam occupies the No. 12 spot in the men's flyweight.