Venezuelan knockout king battles Marcial in ‘Thrilla’

A knockout artist from El Tigre, Venezuela, has been tapped to battle Tokyo Olympics bronze medalist Eumir Marcial in one of the featured fights of the 50th anniversary celebration of the Thrilla in Manila on 29 October at the Smart Araneta Coliseum.

The 28-year-old Eddy Colmenares holds an 11-2-1 win-loss-draw card with 11 knockouts and is nicknamed “El Terrible.”

This fight is a part of the four-bout plan by American dealmaker Sean Gibbons meant to expedite Marcial’s path to a world title shot next year.

On paper, Marcial and Colmenares appear evenly-matched.

The southpaw Marcia, who turns 30 on fight day, parades a 6-0 slate with four knockouts.

While he only has six fights in the punch-for-pay business, Marcial had an extensive amateur career that didn’t only result to a podium finish in the Tokyo Games but medal-producing campaigns in the world championships, World Juniors, Asian Games and Southeast Asian Games.

Marcial is listed at 5-10 while the right-handed Colmenares is six-feet.

Colmenares’ two defeats were on points, sign that the South American has a reputation for durability.

To brace for this tough outing, Marcial flew to Las Vegas last week for a six-week camp.

The Thrilla card will be headlined by the World Boxing Council strawweight title fight starring defending champion Melvin Jerusalem against South African challenger Siyakholwa Kuse at the Big Dome.

Manny Pacquiao’s Blow-By-Blow will be showing the fights with able assistance from Gibbons while Johnny and Liza Elorde and the Araneta Group are also joining hands in running the activities during fight week.