THAT’S how fast and swift Eumir Marcial disposed of his Algerian foe–he took a longer time tying his fighting shoes, or putting on his gloves than winning this one.

To be precise, Marcial took only 161 seconds to get the job done in a shining debut that sent him to the quarterfinals, a victory away from clinching an automatic bronze medal in the boxing competitions of the 32nd Tokyo Olympics.

A clash of heads in the first round led to a cut on the right brow of Youne Nemouchi, forcing the referee to wave off the bout and declare the brightest Filipino gold medal hopeful the winner by referee-stopped-contest with 19 seconds remaining in the middleweight contest.

An hour later, the celebration in the almost-empty stands among a handful of Filipino officials turned to gloom no thanks to the fall of flyweight Irish Magno to lefty Jitpong Jutamas of Thailand, the first of the four Filipino fighters to bow out in this sport where Team Philippines is expected to deliver a medal or two.

From the opening bell to the closing seconds, Magno was dominated by Jitpong, who won in all scorecards of the five judges (30-27, 30-27, 30-27, 29-28, 30-27) and was so confident in winning that she managed to flash a smile every time she floated out of reach after close exchanges.

So Marcial will next face Arman Darchinyan of Armenia–whom he had beaten before in the world championship in Russia–for the bronze medal on Sunday, with the winner advancing to the semifinals against the winner of the bout between Oleksander Khyzhiak of Ukraine and Euri Martinez of the Dominican Republic.

Blood from an apparent accidental headbutt as the two fighters were figuring in a close exchange streamed down the face of the Algerian, forcing the referee to summon the ring doctor a second time to the delight of Filipino officials and sportswriters who had expected a breeze of a win for Marcial.

For a while, the Algerian coaches protested the RSC verdict, claiming their fighter was headbutted. It didn’t prosper.

The 25-year-old Marcial, seeded as the No. 4 among the middleweights campaigning here, gave the Algerian a hint of where he was headed for the day, decking the underdog Nemouchi with a stinging right hook less than a minute in the first round for an eight-count.

“I knocked him down with my right hook then there was an accident with a headbutt. The referee saw the cut was big so the fight was stopped,” said Marcial.

“After he was cut, I relaxed a little bit because I wanted to warm up a little bit more in the second round but the referee stepped in to stop the fight,” he added.

It was a sorry loss for the Algerian, who was not supposed to be here in the first place. He made it to Tokyo only as a replacement for an injured teammate in the African qualifiers.

After getting that boxing lesson from Marcial, Nemouchi wished he should have stayed home instead.

According to head coach Ronald Chavez, a Barcelona Olympics veteran in 1992, the collision of heads came after Marcial hit the Algerian with a crushing right hook to the head with 1:58 left in the first round to send Memouchi wobbling like a drunk in a Quiapo joint.

“The fall came first,” said Chavez in Filipino, proof that Marcial was well on the way to an overpowering victory.

The Thai southpaw was a familiar customer for Magno. They clashed in the semifinals during the Southeast Asian Games in Manila in 2019, with the Filipino winning on points.

But on this day, Jitpong settled the old score.

Jitpong took command early, never giving the Filipina a chance to gain her bearings as she inflicted the first defeat to the four-member boxing team that’s fancied to make a deep run this time after going home empty-handed in the last three Olympics.

Thus ended the Olympic campaign of Magno, the oldest of the four Filipino boxers at 30, who gave the team the promise of contending for a medal after an impressive debut against Christine Ongare of Kenya a few days ago.

Against Jitfong, she was a pitiful sight to behold.

“Of course, I’m sad,” said Magno in Filipino, shaking her head as she made her way to the dressing room after a brief interview with Filipino reporters.

“We prepared for her, but they also prepared for us. In the Olympics, it’s really tough to win one here,” Magno added.

Next to climb the ring is Carlo Paalam, a 5-0 winner over Ireland’s Brendan Irivine, who will gun for a place in he men’s flyweight quarterfinals against fourth seed Mohamed Flissi of Algeria on Saturday.

“I am so happy that he is back to his old form and with polished new moves he developed in the last three months,” said Association of Boxing Alliances in he Philippines president Ricky Vargas, referring to Marcial who went from Manila to Los Angeles to Zamboanga to Dubai to Colorado in a controversy-filled Olympic buildup.

“I believe he will only get better because his mind and body are now fully focused. Also, he told us that his kababayan Hidilyn’s victory inspired and motivated him even more,” he added. By Joe Antonio