Eumir Marcial brings home the bronze medal after coming up short in the semifinals

It was a fearless effort by Eumir Marcial but the judges decided against the Filipino fighter in the final round of the men’s middleweight semifinals. Marcial won two rounds in split decisions but the Ukrainian fighter won the final round unanimously, leading to a split decision win for Ukraine.

A barrage of punches in the first round

The Ukrainian fighter opened the round with a barrage of punches while Marcial threw clean counter punches. At the end of the first round, Marcial had an open cut at the top of his forehead which could have been from a collision of their heads in the ending seconds of the first round. At the end, the Filipino boxer won the round with a 3-2 score.

Body shots in the second round

Eumir Marcial focused on giving the Ukrainian fighter a flurry of body shots which at one point almost made Marcial’s opponent ran out of gas. Some head punches were also thrown by both fighters and at one point a small cut was developing on the nose of the fighter from Ukraine. The round ended with Marcial winning by 3-2 score.

The Deciding round

The Ukrainian fighter continued with his barrage of punches and Marcial with his counterpunches. The wound on the nose of the Ukrainian fighter opened as a result of some head punches he took from the Filipino boxer. But this did not stop the fighter from Ukraine to throw more punches. While it is a close fight, the judges gave the third round unanimously to the boxer from Ukraine and the final decision a 3-2 score in favor of Oleksander Khyzhniak from Ukraine.

With this loss, Eumir Marcial will be taking home the bronze medal.