How young did Eumir Marcial start in boxing? The Olympian shares his journey

Filipino Olympic bronze medalist and boxer Eumir Marcial is heading to his second stint in the Olympics in the upcoming Paris Games this July.

While he has already etched his name in the history books, Marcial hopes he can bag another medal — maybe a gold this time — when he heads to France.

But did you know that Marcial started his boxing journey at the early age of just six years old?

"Nag-start po ako mag-boxing nung anim na taong gulang pa lang po ako," Marcial recalled in the GMA Integrated News podcast 'Surprise Guest with Pia Arcangel.'

"And then na-inspire po ako nung nakita ko 'yung pinsan ko na lumalaban po siya. Parati ko siya nakikita na kasama 'yung tatay ko, na nakakapunta sila ng mga iba't ibang lugar. Sabi ko, parang gusto ko din maging isang boksingero," said the 28-year old boxer, whose father also trained boxers.

[I started boxing when I was six years old. I was inspired when I saw my cousin and he was boxing. I always saw him with my father, and they would go to different places. I thought to myself, I think I also want to become a boxer.]

In his first match at age 7, Marcial already tasted victory, but his journey was challenging just like his matches.

"And then, 'yung unang laban ko po nung 7 years old po ako. Panalo po ako nung time na 'yun. Doon na po nagsimula yung, yung boxing career ko," said Marcial.

"May mga time na gusto ko na huminto dahil siyempre, bilang isang bata, sumali ka sa sports na boxing, hindi po yun madali dahil kailangan buo yung loob mo, 'yung oras mo ibibigay mo doon talaga sa training kasi, siyempre, ayaw mo [na] kung magiging isang boksingero ka, pero 'yung goal mo is lalaban nang hindi manalo so magiging useless 'yung pagiging boksingero mo.

"So, ako nung nag-boxing ako, talagang ayaw ko matalo kaya nag-te-training po talaga ako nang husto," he added.

[In my match when I was 7 years old. I won that time. That's when my boxing career began... There were times, though, that I wanted to stop. Of course, as a child, if you join the sport of boxing, it's not easy because you have to be committed, you have to give your time to your training. You don't want to be a boxer and not win fights because that would make your being a boxer useless... So when I started boxing, I really didn't want to lose so I trained a lot.]

Aside from being an Olympic bronze medalist, Marcial is now also a silver medalist in the World Championships in 2019, a silver and bronze medalist in the Asian Games, and a four-time Southeast Asian Games gold medalist.

As a professional, he also holds a 5-0 record, three of his wins were knockouts.

Marcial is among the more than ten Filipinos who will be heading to Paris for the Olympic Games.

Stream the full episode of the podcast here:

—JMB, GMA Integrated News