PAGARA BROTHERS AND THE WORLD PART I
By Maloney L. Samaco
PhilBoxing.com
Fri, 11 Sep 2015
From their humble beginnings in the seaside village of Lib-og in Maasin City, Southern Leyte, where brothers Jason and Albert grew up without a silver spoon in their mouth, they are about to conquer the greatest boxing nation of the world, the United States.
"We gathered shells at the mangrove areas of Lib-og and accompany our mother in selling them at the public market," recalled Albert. "Life was very hard so we decided to transfer to Cagayan de Oro, the place of our father Reynaldo."
Jason had CDO as his birthplace and when the family transfered to Maasin, Albert was born. That is why when they fight together in the ring they were introduced with different addresses. ALA Promotions would want the fighters to use respectively their places of birth.
For this writer, I still consider Jason as a citizen of Maasin City because his mother is from this place and he grew up with Albert in this city, that time still a town. Although records show that Jason saw the light in Cagayan de Oro. They were first oriented by their dad with the fundamentals of boxing in Maasin.
There in CDO, Jason and Albert honed the basic fighting skills they learned from their father, under the assistance of then Misamis Oriental Governor and now CDO Mayor Oscar Moreno.
Together with world champion Donnie Nietes and undefeated boxer Mark Magsayo, they will face separate foes in the first ALA Promotions offering in the US billed as Pinoy Pride 33: Philippines vs. The World.
Albert fought in his first bout outside the country in Pinoy Pride 32: Duel in Dubai II where he demolished Jesus "Chito" Rios in the very first canto. Ditto for Jason who fought his first match outside but he had to struggle amidst eye cuts to win over Ramiro Alcaraz by eighth-round tecnical decision.
Now it's a whole new world for the fighting Pagaras as they arrived in Los Angeles and ready to envade the "Land of Boxing Milk and Honey." The future promises a bright shining star for as they tackle the challenges from tougher American and Latino foes atop the boxing ring.
Manny Pacquiao gained fame and fortune when he surprised the boxing world with victories over favorites Lehlo Ledwaba and Marco Antonio Barrera in the American boxing scene.
Photo shows the writer with Albert and Jason Pagara.
Click here to view a list of other articles written by Maloney L. Samaco.
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