Olympic bronze medalist Eumir Marcial defeated his most experienced opponent to date, stopping Ricardo Villalba in round two of their eight-round middleweight bout on Saturday at the Alamodome in San Antonio, Tex.
The power difference was apparent immediately as Marcial (4-0, 2 knockouts) of Zamboanga City, Philippines dropped Villalba (20-8-1, 8 KOs) with a southpaw left to the body late in the opening round. Villalba made it to his feet but was back down early in the second round following a right hook to the top of the head. The bout was waived off at the 48-second mark.
The loss was the fourth by knockout for the 33-year-old from Buenos Aires, Argentina. Villalba was fighting for the first time at 162 pounds, after weighing 153 1/4 pounds just two months ago for his shutout decision loss to Micky Scala in Las Vegas.
IT’S OVER!
Eumir Marcial finishes Ricardo Villalba in the 2nd round 🥊
Still more to come on the #VargasFoster Prelims on YouTube: https://t.co/laUCKlXnip@lthomasnews pic.twitter.com/VJv6iUrr8m
— SHOWTIME Boxing (@ShowtimeBoxing) February 12, 2023
Marcial, a bronze medalist at the 2020 Olympics, is trained by Jorge Capetillo in Las Vegas and is promoted by Manny Pacquiao’s MP Promotions.
The eight-round bout was on the undercard of the Rey Vargas vs. O’Shaquie Foster fight, which will be televised by Showtime Championship Boxing.
Ryan Songalia has written for ESPN, the New York Daily News, Rappler and The Guardian, and is part of the Craig Newmark Graduate School of Journalism Class of 2020. He can be reached at [email protected].
