Eumir Marcial of the Philippines in action against Oleksandr Khyzhniak of Ukraine REUTERS/Amr Abdallah Dalsh
It was indeed a close fight between Eumir Marcial and Ukraine's Oleksandr Khyzhniak, but fight analyst Atty. Ed Tolentino believed the Filipino boxer did enough to win against his semis opponent.
Marcial lost via a split decision after banging it out with the Ukrainian slugger for three rounds. The Filipino, however, still got a bronze medal for his feat, adding to the Philippines' total medal count in the Tokyo Olympics.
"I thought Eumir landed the cleaner and harder punches," said Tolentino.
Tolentino said the judges, who gave the Ukrainian a split 3-2 win, appeared to have favored Khyzhniak due to his volume punches.
"Ang nangyari, makamay lang 'yung Khyzhniak. Ang nangyari they favored quantity over quality," he said, adding that the fight was close that it could have gone either way.
But it was not controversial, he clarified. "Hindi naman, dahil amateur boxing ito at iba ang estado nila sa paghusga ng laban," he said.
Marcial, who pocketed two stoppage wins heading to this bout, was forced to go toe-to-toe with Khyzhniak in the three-round affair.
Marcial connected more definitive blows but Khyzhniak, despite taking some punishment to the body, kept plodding forward.
"Alam na natin ang style ni Oleksandr Khyzniak, talagang pasugod ito. Talagan dirediresto, bully boxing ang laro nito. Ang nangyari Eumir Marcial stood his ground and decided to plant his feet and trade," said Tolentino.
"Pero kung ako ang tatanungin, Eumir did enough to take this fight. Unfortunately the judges saw it the other way."
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