ALA boxing wonder kid Jason “El Niño” Pagara continues to impress the boxing world as he successfully defended his WBO International Light Welterweight title with a second round demolition of Mexican challenger Cesar Chavez last Saturday night at the University of Southeastern Philippines Gymnasium in Davao City.
The fighting pride of Cagayan de Oro showed no mercy to his prey and looked to end the main event early as he sent Chavez to the canvas twice in the first round with powerful shots to the body. His challenger managed to finish the round and survive the onslaught but the inevitable seemed to happen anytime soon. In the second round, Pagara continued to punish his Mexican foe, a perfectly landed left hook to the body by the champion sent Chavez down for good and ended the bout at the 1:59 mark of the round.
This was Pagara’s 8th straight victory and 5th successful defense of his title that put himself in a great position to be a future contender for the currently vacant WBO Junior Welterweight title.
The victory also secures the 26-year-old champion’s spot in the ALA Promotions first show in the US on May 23 in San Diego, California which he was reportedly going to headline. The #4 ranked WBO Junior Welterweight Pagara improves his record to (35-2, 22 KO’s) after this victory.
In the co-main event of the evening, unbeaten Genesis Servania (25-0, 11 KO’s) outclassed Juan Luis Hernandez of Mexico over 12 one-sided rounds to retain his WBO Intercontinental Junior Featherweight belt.
The unbeaten ALA star put his challenger in all sorts of trouble throughout the fight but failed to score a KO victory, as his Mexican counterpart, who injured his wrist in the early stages of the fight, just focused on defending to endure Servania’s attack to survive each round.
The victory serves to be a big boost for the #1 ranked WBO Super Bantamweight Servania who improves his record to 26-0, 11 KO’s as he could fight for a title eliminator next or a title shot against WBO 122 pounds kingpin Guillermo Rigondeaux of Cuba.
In what could be the fight of the night, undefeated “King” Arthur Villanueva won a scintillating ten round unanimous decision over former WBO Flyweight champion Julio Cesar “Pingo” Miranda of Mexico.
The war was on from the opening bell for these two ring warriors. Villanueva managed to dominate the first two rounds as he hurt Miranda with solid blows to the body. The Mexican started to make his move in the third round trying to close the gap against the unbeaten Filipino. The middle rounds has been a toss up as both boxers landed with their powerful blows. The last four rounds has been dominated by Villanueva as he punished the Mexican visitor with his accurate combinations. Scores were 99-91, 98-92, 98-92.
With the victory a title shot could be looming around the corner for the hard hitting Villanueva who is starting to climb up the boxing rankings and is now ranked #6 by The Ring Magazine at 115.
The Negros Occidental native also improves his unblemished record to 27-0, 14 KO’s while Miranda drops to 38-12-2, 29 KO’s.
Pinoy Pride 29 results
February 8, 2015 – University of Southeastern Philippines Gymnasium, Davao City
WBO International Junior Welterweight Championship: Jason “El Nino” Pagara def. Cesar “El Dolar” Chavez by KO, Rd 2
WBO Intercontinental Junior Featherweight Championship: Genesis “Azukal” Servania def. Juan Luis “Perla Negra” Hernandez by UD
Super Flyweight bout: “King” Arthur Villanueva def. Julio Cesar “Pingo” Miranda by UD (99-91, 98-92, 98-92)
Featherweight bout: Mark “Magnifico” Magsayo def. Sukkasem Kietyongyuth by TKO, Rd 5
Junior Welterweight bout: Arjan “Spartan” Canillas def. Stevi Ongen Ferdinandus by KO, Rd 4
Junior Flyweight bout: Vic “Vicious” Saludar def. Lester John Pronco by UD 79-73, 78-74, 79-73
Junior Flyweight bout: Arnold Garde def. Rafael Sueno by UD
Bantamweight bout: Brian “Buhawi” Lobitania def. Armando Yee by TKO, Rd 2
