DONAIRE-BEDAK FIGHT CARD GETS MAJOR BOOST AS MAGSAYO BATTLES CHRIS AVALOS
By Ronnie Nathanielsz
PhilBoxing.com
Fri, 04 Mar 2016
Unbeaten featherweight Mark "Magnifico" Magsayo, one of the most promising young stars from the famed ALA Gym will have a chance to prove his worth when he battles American Chris Avalos on the umdercard of WBO super bantamweight champion Nonito "The Filipio Flash" Donaire's title defense against No. 4 ranked former Hungarian Olympian Zsolt Bedak at the sprawling Cebu City Sports Center on April 23.
Top rated Jessie Magdaleno was originally supposed to figure in the supporting main event but he withdrew reportedly because he wanted a bigger purse and instead ALA Promotions which is staging the exciting fight card in cooperation with Top Rank Promotions and the giant broadcast network ABS-CBN, picked former title challenger Chris "Hitman" Avalos to battle Magsayo in the main supporting bout which is expected to be a far more compelling contest.
Magsayo who has an unblemished record of 13-0 with 10 knockouts is coming off a comfortable unanimous decision over Mexico's Eduardo Montoya (17-5-1, 13KO) in "Pinoy Pride 35" before a jampacked crowd at the Waterfront Hotel and Casino in Cebu in which he dropped Montoya in the 7th round but failed to put him away to the disappointment of fight fans who expected a knockout.
Magsayo admitted that he tried too hard to score a knockout and in the process lost his rhythm even as Montoya refused to engage and appeared hell-bent on surviving.
The 26 year old Avalos has a record of 26-4 with 19 knockouts.
He lost by a 5th round TKO to Britain's Carl Frampton, the IBF super bantamweight champion last February 28, 2015 but came back to score a near shutout in an eight-round bout against Filipino Rey Perez on August 1, 2015 before losing by a 5th round TKO in a scheduled ten-round bout to unbeaten Oscar Valdez, the No. 8 ranked featherweight with an impressive record of 16 knockouts in 18 wins with no losses on September 11, 2015.
Reporting on the Avalos-Perez fight, Boxing Scene said fighting as a featherweight Avalos who weighed 126 ? pounds rebounded from a thumping defeat in his last outing against Frampton with a workmanlike eight round unanimous decision over Rey Perez (20-7, 5 KO), 125 ?, of Santa Rosa City, Laguna, Philippines at the Dr. Pepper Arena in Frisco, Texas. The referee was Steve Smoger.
Returning to the ring since being stopped for the first time in February by IBF 122 lb. titlist Carl Frampton, Avalos showed a hint of early jitters as the first got under way. It didn?t last long, Avalos meeting Perez in exchanges and marking his left eye by the second round. By the third, Perez seemed to be getting more defensive as the more active and precise Avalos went to work. By round five, there were swellings around both of Perez?s eyes but he kept swinging back whenever Avalos took a breath.
Avalos never really hurt Perez but he clearly won nearly every round and was rewarded with judges Michael Mitchell and Aladin Martinez scoring an 80-72 shutout and the third judge Jesse Reyes giving Perez one round for a scorecard of 79-73.
Avalos came into the fight rated ninth at 122 lbs. by the IBF.
Photo: Avalos (L) in action against Perez.
Click here to view a list of other articles written by Ronnie Nathanielsz.
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