IN his best performance yet as a pro, Eumir Felix Marcial knocked down Argentine Ricardo Villalba twice yesterday (Sunday night in the US) en route to a quick second-round technical knockout victory in their scheduled eight-round middleweight bout at the Alamodome in San Antonio, Texas.
Behind a solid footwork and crisp power punching, Marcial downed Villalba with a left uppercut with 23 seconds left in the first round then finished him off with a right hook to the head with 36 seconds to go in the second.
Villalba, wobbly, managed to beat American referee Mark Calo-oy’s count but was obviously in no shape to continue, prompting the latter to stop the fight 12 seconds later.
After some patchy displays in his first three matches, Marcial, 27, promoted by the Manny Pacquiao-owned MP Promotions, finally showed why he is one of the more promising fighters in the middleweight ranks with his fourth straight win.
Villalba, 33, absorbed his fourth straight loss, dropping his record to 20 wins, eight defeats and one draw.
