Gibbons: No AIMAG stint for Marcial

Eumir Marcial won’t be back representing the country in international competitions anytime soon.

Not even in the Asian Indoor and Martial Arts Games (AIMAG) in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia this December, the Filipino banger’s American promoter told DAILY TRIBUNE on Wednesday.

“No way he’s fighting there,” Gibbons said from his Las Vegas home just days after Marcial scored a sensational third-round knockout victory over Ulises Huerta in Temecula, California.

The AIMAG is scheduled 11-21 December and it should conflict with Gibbons’ timeline for “a big fight” he is targeting for Marcial in January 2027.

“It’s time to focus on his professional career,” he said, noting that even though Marcial entered the punch-for-pay business almost six years ago, he has only fought a total of eight times.

Following his one-punch demolition of Huerta, Marcial was planning to join the Philippine team in the 20th Asian Games in Nagoya, Japan.

But the Association of Boxing Alliances in the Philippines (ABAP) made a last-minute decision for him to skip it citing that the long travel from Los Angeles to Japan could affect his body and eventually his performance.

Instead, the ABAP announced that Marcial will be representing the Philippines in the AIMAG.

Marcial was among the Philippines’ top medal bets in the ongoing competitions even though he won’t be fighting in the middleweight class (75 kilograms) — his pet weight bracket — but in the light-heavyweight category (80 kilograms).

In the last Asian Games in Hangzhou in 2023, Marcial went home with the silver medal after running into a tall and rangy Chinese adversary in the light-heavyweight final.

Gibbons added that Marcial will be right in the thick of training camp by the time the AIMAG takes place.