Eumir Marcial floors Vietnamese foe to claim SEAG finals spot

By Leobert Julian A. de la Peña

My oh my, that punch hit like a truck.

On Dec. 17, 2025, Filipino boxing superstar Eumir Marcial secured another Southeast Asian Games grand finals appearance after knocking out Vietnam’s Manh Cuing Nguyen at the Chulalongkorn Sports Center in Thailand.

Too strong, too big, and more experienced was the more mature Marcial, who embraced the lessons he learned fresh off a grueling professional boxing win against Eddy Colmenares.

The semifinal bout in the men’s 80-kilogram weight class was more of a showcase than a fight.

From the get-go, Marcial displayed his punching prowess, tagging the Vietnamese pug several times with his devastating left hook.

Marcial’s body language was something else, as he stalked Nguyen, moving forward for three straight minutes.

The Filipino power puncher was bound for a walk in the park after rocking the Vietnamese’s head with a three-punch combination, while following it up with sweet back-step defensive footwork to avoid any counterpunches.

Nguyen attempted to regain momentum after throwing a barrage of jabs to disrupt Marcial’s pressure, but the former Olympic bronze medalist showed he could eat the punches and maintained his game plan to force action on the front foot.

The second round made no difference, as Marcial still dictated the tempo by throwing efficient haymakers and his patented lead left punch.

Nguyen shifted strategy after targeting Marcial’s midsection, but all those planned actions off the break still went to waste, with the latter coming in prepared by ducking under to protect his body.

The stunning stretch of events came with only 35 seconds left in the second round, when Marcial landed the devastating knockout blow to end Nguyen’s hopes of a SEA Games upset.

As easy as it looked, Marcial had to set up a sweeping right hook to generate the KO, followed by an incoming left punch that Nguyen ate for an early dinner and an exit ticket from the SEA Games.

As soon as Nguyen went down, his facial expression told the whole story of the fight, as he grimaced in pain while shaking his head in disbelief.

Awaiting Marcial in the gold medal match is Maikhel Muskita of Indonesia, who boasts a track record of back-to-back podium finishes in the biennial meet, winning gold and silver in the 2021 and 2023 SEAG editions, respectively.

One more punch for the golden journey, Eumir! Bring this home!