HEAVY-HANDED middleweight Eumir Marcial lived up to his hype after another knockout finish to enter the semifinals of the Men’s Middleweight division in boxing of the 2020 Tokyo Olympics in Tokyo Japan.

The 25-year-old Marcial knocked out fellow pro pug Arman Darchinyan in the first round of their quarterfinals match on Sunday, Aug. 1, 2021, at the Kokugikan Hall.

Marcial came off with guns slinging, landing some heavy blows on his Armenian foe.

Darchinyan was given a standing eight-count by referee Wulfren Olivares Perez following a three-punch combination by Marcial.

Marcial dropped Darchinyan, the nephew of former world champion Vic Darchinyan, with a right hook to the jaw. Perez didn’t bother to count and waved the fight off in the 2:11 mark of the opening round.

Run to the semifinals

Marcial takes on former foe, Ukranian Oleksandr Khyzhniak, in the semifinals on Aug. 5.

Marcial has been very impressive in his Olympic campaign, with two stoppage victories. He scored a first round referee’s stoppage over Algerian Younes Nemouchi in the Round of 16.

The 25-year-old Khyzhniak also had on an impressive run in the Olympics. He totally outclassed Japanese Yuito Moriwaki via a 5-0 decision in the Round of 16 and a 4-1 points decision over Euri Cedeno Martinez of Dominican Republic in the quarterfinals.

Khyzhniak is a gold medalist of the 2017 AIBA Boxing World Championships and the 2019 European Championships.

Marcial and Khyzhniak already have history against each other. Khyzhniak owns a win over Marcial in 2019.

Marcial is one of three Filipino boxers who are in the running for an Olympic gold medal.

Nesthy Petecio is fighting Japanese Sena Irie in the gold medal match of the Women’s Featherweight division on Aug. 3. Carlo Paalam is also seeing action on the same day against Uzbek Shakhobidin Zoirov in the Men’s Flyweight division quarterfinals.

Meanwhile, KM Knott is competing in the qualifying round of the Women’s 200M in Athletics on Monday, Aug. 2. (EKA)