FILIPINO Olympic boxer Eumir Marcial will sit out the 20th Asian Games in Nagoya, Japan, despite coming off a dominant third-round knockout victory against American Omar Huerta in San Diego, California. Following a joint decision with the Association of Boxing Alliances of the Philippines (ABAP), Marcial agreed to forgo his Asiad campaign to avoid a grueling travel schedule and rapid transition back to amateur competition. ABAP president Marcus Jarwin Manalo explained that the tight timeline posed significant health risks for the 2023 Hangzhou Asian Games silver medalist. “I spoke to Eumir right after winning his professional fight earlier. After carefully considering the situation, Eumir and I agreed that it would be better to skip the Asian Games,” said Manalo. “It would be very hard for him to immediately transition from a professional fight in the US, into long-distance travel to Nagoya with a 16-hour time difference, and then into another high-level boxing competition with such a short recovery period.” “Boxing is a physically demanding and inherently risky sport, and adequate time to rest and recover is extremely important. We do not want to compromise Eumir’s health and safety because of the tight timeline,” Manalo added, noting that Marcial will instead focus on representing the Philippines at the Asian Indoor and Martial Arts Games (Aimag) in December. The decision came shortly after Marcial’s impressive middleweight performance at the Pechanga Arena. The undefeated Filipino pugilist unleashed a sharp right counter hook at the 1:54 mark of the third round, sending Huerta to the canvas. Huerta failed to beat the referee’s 10-second count, handing Marcial his fifth knockout and improving his professional record to 8-0. Huerta dropped to 15-2-1 following his second consecutive loss. “We sincerely hope for understanding that this decision was made with Eumir’s best interests in mind. His commitment to Philippine boxing and to representing the country has never been in question,” Manalo stressed.