“Prince” Albert Pagara successfully defended his WBO Intercontinental junior featherweight title with a unanimous decision victory over Yesner Talavera of Nicaragua at the Waterfront Cebu City Hotel and Casino, Saturday Night.
Heading to the fight with back-to-back knockouts, the undefeated Pagara opened the bout with aggressiveness. He started off the bout firing different combinations against his prone opponent.
Talavera had few answers against the champion in the majority of the bout. Despite being cornered by former WBA world titleholder Rosendo Alvarez, the Nicaraguan chose to circle around the ring to avoid any damage from Pagara. In addition, he was passive with his shots and was just satisfied in throwing counters.
During the fifth round, Talavera tried to show some aggressiveness with a stinging three-punch combination to start the round. However, the 22-year old ALA Boxing champion did not allow his opponent to gain any sort of momentum as he immediately cut his opponent to corner him.
Pagara continued to stalk his opponent throughout the latter rounds of the fights. In the tenth round, “Prince” was able to catch the Nicaraguan challenger with a straight right that dropped him to the delight of the crowd. Talavera though managed to stand up to continue the fight against the referees count.
Feeling the power of his opponent, he resorted to staying away from danger up until the final bell. It was a unanimous decision win for Pagara in the eyes of everyone, including the judges, with scorecards of 119-108, 120-107, 120-107 decision to give the Filipino his second successful defense of his belt.
The win improves Pagara’s record to 26-0 while Talavera suffered his fourth career loss. His record now drops to 14-9-3.
In the co-main event, Mark “Magnifico” Magsayo added another feather to his cap, capturing the vacant WBO youth featherweight title after outpointing Mexico’s Eduardo Montoya, 99-90, 100-89 and 97-92.
In the other featured fight of the evening, former amateur standout Kevin Jake Cataraja defeated Tony Rodriguez via decision.
Pinoy Pride 35: Stars of the Future Results
February 28, 2016 – Cebu Waterfront Hotel and Casino, Cebu City
WBO Intercontinental Junior Featherweight Championship: Albert Pagara def. Yasner Talavera (unanimous decision) to retain belt
WBO Youth Featherweight Championship: Mark Magsayo def. Eduardo Montoya (unanimous decision) to win vacant belt
Flyweight bout: Kevin Jake Cataraja def. Tony Rodriguez (decision)
Minimumweight bout: Melvin Jerusalem def. Florante Condes (decision)
Super Bantamweight bout: Jeo Santisima def. Marco Demicillo (TKO, 6th)
Super Lightweight bout: Elmo Traya def. Romeo Jakosalem (decision)
Featherweight bout: Muhammad Ridhwan def. Melchor Roda (unanimous decision)
Light Flyweight bout: Esneth Domingo def. Vic Ejercito (TKO, 1st)
