PAGARA KO?S OVERCONFIDENT ANTOINE
By Maloney L. Samaco
PhilBoxing.com
Sun, 21 Oct 2012
The ?Hands of Stone from Barbados? is no match for the ?El Ni?o of the Philippines.? But it was unlike what happened to Roberto Duran, the original ?Hands of Stone? who cried ?No m?s, No m?s (No more, No more)!? when he could no longer stand the stinging punches of Sugar Rey Leonard and turned his back to quit on the eighth round during their rematch on November 24, 1980.
Miguel Antoine dropped to the canvas right on the very first round courtesy of the solid punches of Jason Pagara during the Pinoy Pride XVII at the SM Mall of Asia last night. And the loss was worse than the infamous No M?s fight.
Antoine bragged earlier that he will knock Pagara out because the ALA standout allegedly has not faced a boxer of his caliber. His trainer Samuel Gregory Layne even said his boxer fights and moves better than Floyd Mayweather, Jr. and wanted to face Manny Pacquiao after the Pagara fight.
But everything the Barbados team is crowing about is a bubble which burst right in the first round. The dream turned into a nightmare for Antoine. The Caribbean champion bragged that he will knock out Pagara and bring home the WBO international lightwelterweight title belt to his island country. But the Mayweather-like moves did not come out.
The end for Antoine came at 2 minutes 48 seconds of the first round. A body punch followed by a right to his face ended the fight early. Referee Bruce McTavish counted him out up to ten. He did not get up as if saying silently ?No m?s.? It was a clean knockout. He just sat on the canvas and could not believe it was Pagara who has the ?hands of stone? that night.
Pagara has defeated several foreign foes like Mexicans Rosbel Montoya and Juan Carlos Gallegos, Tanzanian Deo Njiku, Thais Kondej Sithtrajtrakan, Decha Kokietgym and Sapapetch Sor Sakaorat, Young-Bin Kim of South Korea, and lots of Indonesians like Frans Yarangga, Billy Sumba, Simson Butar Butar, Heri Andriyanto, Eddy Comaro, and Hero Yauw Katili.
Antoine hasn?t fought outside of the Caribbean before the bout with Pagara. And as I have hinted previously, boxers in the Caribbean are not as tough as the Asian pugilists.
?I am confident I can win against him as I had a better training. I just wanted to end the fight early as the opportunity came in the first round,? declared Pagara. ?I thank all those who supported me especially Sir ALA.?
Pagara will have a grand homecoming as soon as he comes to Maasin City. He now improves his pro record to 30-2-0 with 19 KOs. While Antoine?s record declined to 17-1-1 with 9 KOs.
Jason is expected to come home when his brother Albert fights in Maasin City on November 16, 2012 against Tawanrung Eausampan of Thailand.
Click here to view a list of other articles written by Maloney L. Samaco.
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