SAME OL’ SPIRIT
Eumir Marcial recognized the heavy expectations that came with fighting in the co-main event of Thrilla in Manila’s 50th anniversary.
Even greater than the privilege of being one of the headliners in a historic anniversary special was the burden of living up to the spirit of arguably the greatest fight in history—one where boxing behemoths Muhammad Ali and Joe Frazier went at it in a brutal 14-round slugfest a half century ago.
It seemed an improbable task, but Marcial and Venezuelan counterpart Eddy Colmenares understood the assignment.
“When we faced off during the weigh-in, he said something to me in Spanish and I can understand Spanish. He told me, when we step into the ring, it’s going to be an all-out war,” said Marcial in Filipino.
“That’s exactly what happened. It was war indeed.”
Sure, Marcial and Colmenares are nowhere near Ali and Frazier’s stature. There was no history and bad blood between them and no world titles on the line either.
They were merely two undefeated middleweight prospects committed to performing as promised from the get-go.
But when the final bell rang after 10 agonizing rounds, the two relentless warriors exchanged smiles and hugged it out while the Araneta Coliseum crowd was on its feet—they knew they put up a memorable performance.
In that moment, the scorecards didn’t seem to matter. From almost everyone’s perspective, both fighters won after a performance that paid homage to the original Thrilla in Manila that happened inside the same coliseum walls.
“Tonight is memorable. It’s my 30th birthday and the 50th anniversary of Thrilla in Manila,” said a bruised and bloodied Marcial, who survived a pair of knockdowns and eked past Colmenares by majority decision to capture the vacant WBC International title early Thursday.
“This is such a meaningful belt for me because of what I had to go through to earn it on my birthday,” added the Zamboanga City native, who improved his record to 7-0 with four knockouts.
It was a gutsy performance by Marcial in a back-and-forth battle of attrition where he found himself on the verge of a humiliating knockout loss.
“When he knocked me down in the third round, I thought it was over for me. I told myself, this is it, I’m going to lose,” Marcial admitted.
But the Olympic bronze medalist turned near-disaster into a defining moment.
“It was a close call. But I heard the crowd cheering for me. The support was overwhelming and I drew strength from our home fans. I didn’t want to let them down.”
