Marcial loads up on heavy sparring

PRAGUE, Czech Republic—Knowing the big trouble he will be getting in the Paris Olympics, Filipino light-heavyweight Eumir Marcial ramped up his buildup by banging bodies with a former world super-welterweight champion and a towering member of Team USA in Washington, D.C.

Anytime soon, Marcial will leave for France to hook up with the rest of the Philippine boxing team for a three-week camp in Saarbrücken in Germany.

Right now, the squad is training in the city of Metz, a short one-hour ride to the German border city.

Marcial, as confirmed by the Association of Boxing Alliances in the Philippines and his American handler Sean Gibbons, is arriving in Europe on Tuesday or Wednesday.

ABAP secretary general Marcus Manalo said the team is relocating to Germany on Wednesday with the iron-fisted Marcial in tow.

In Saarbrücken, the boxers will work out alongside other Paris-bound teams thanks to the German Boxing Federation.

Gibbons told DAILY TRIBUNE on Monday that as soon as Marcial gets his travel documents, he will proceed to France and take the trip with his national team buddies to Saarbrücken.