PAGARA BROTHERS, BANAL TRIUMPH IN NIGHT OF KNOCKOUTS
By Ronnie Nathanielsz
PhilBoxing.com
Sun, 22 Jun 2014
CEBU CITY ? June 21, 2014
A premature stoppage by referee Danrex Tapdasan deprived fight fans of a climactic ending to a fantastic, action-packed fight card which saw WBO International junior welterweight champion Jason ?El Nino? Pagara retain his title with a 4th round TKO over the gallant Mexican warrior Marco ?Rocky? Meraz before a sell-out crowd at the plush Waterfront Hotel and Casino here in Cebu City on Saturday night.
In a night of knockouts, the undefeated Prince Albert Pagara, the 20 year old younger brother of the 25 year old Jason, scored a devastating 1st round TKO over cocky Hugo ?Olimpico? Partida who at the weigh-in head-butted Pagara and even threw a punch which angered Prince Albert who vowed to make Partida pay and he did in awesome fashion.
A right to the jaw dropped the Mexican in the early stages of round one before a flurry of punches had Partida reeling against the ropes which held him up from going down for a second time, with internationally respected referee Bruce McTavish correctly ruling it a knockdown.
Partida beat the count but there was no way he was going to escape the wrath of the young Pagara who, together with elder brother Jason, gave substance to the fight card titled ?Fists of the Future? on the tremendously successful ?Pinoy Pride? series of ALA Promotions in cooperation with the giant broadcast network ABS-CBN which telecast the fights on Channel 2 at 10:15 a.m. on Sunday.
A cracking left hook to the jaw sent Partida crashing to the canvas forcing referee McTavish to call a halt to the massacre at 1:18 of the opening round which enabled Prince Albert, a would-be king of the junior featherweights/super bantamweights to win the vacant IBF Intercontinental title.
IBF supervisor Raymond Reed who placed the belt around Pagara who was elated at winning his first title, told the Manila Standard he was very impressed with the young Pagara who had power in both hands and whose timing and accuracy were near perfect. Reed predicted that with proper training, discipline and a few more fights Prince Albert Pagara could be a potential world contender.
With the smashing victory Prince Albert Pagara went up to 21-0 with 15 knockouts while Partida fell to 21-5-2 with 16 knockouts.
The older Jason Pagara had a tougher battle on his hands against Meraz who was on a five-fight winning streak and had an impressive record of 16 knockouts in 20 wins with only three losses.
Ranked No. 4 by the WBO Jason Pagara connected with a right hook early in round one only to see Meraz catch him with a counter right hand. But a right uppercut and a left to the head staggered the Mexican before a stinging right uppercut dropped Meraz with around 26 seconds remaining in the round which he managed to survive.
While trainer Edmund Villamor instructed Jason to throw the right uppercut followed by a left to the body, it was Meraz who took off in round two with a stiff left uppercut before Pagara connected with a left hook to the body followed by a solid right which shook Meraz.
With his trainer?s instructions ringing in his ears Jason Pagara nailed Meraz with five successive uppercuts and turned the fight into a typical waterfront brawl with both fighters trading heavy leather. Pagara staggered Meraz with a left hook followed by a right uppercut that drove the Mexican against the ropes where he fought his way out of trouble by connecting with a solid right before he shook Pagara with a right uppercut and a and a left hook.
Another left uppercut by Meraz kicked off round four before Pagara ripped a series of left hooks to the body and battered Meraz as he lay against the ropes but the Mexican shook Jason with a hard right before the promising Filipino jumped on Meraz with a cracking flurry of punches that dropped Meraz in his own corner.
Although he got up, raised both hands and signaled to Tapdasan that he was ready to fight on, the referee stopped the contest with one second to go in the round claiming that Meraz was on unsteady legs when he walked towards him. Tapdasan ignored the fact that Meraz could have benefited from the one minute break in-between rounds and when he approached Meraz?s trainer to explain he brushed him off.
Later Castillo who trains such outstanding champions as Humberto Soto and Luis Ceja told the Standard ?maybe the referee was scared that since Meraz hurt Pagara in the fourth round he may knock him out in the next round so he stopped the fight? although Meraz told us he could have continued and the fight could have ended in a knockout, either way.
Both fighter and trainer lamented the fact that a great crowd was deprived of a definitive ending to a truly remarkable ring battle with Meraz telling us, he would like to return to fight in the Philippines despite his disappointment over the stoppage.
With the win Pagara improved to 34-2 with 21 knockouts while Meraz dropped to 20-4 with 16 knockouts.
Former world bantamweight title challenger AJ ?Bazooka? Banal who had vowed to silence his critics some of whom claimed he had no fighting heart, proved them wrong when he came back from what appeared to be a flash knockdown in the opening round to knock out undefeated Indonesian KO artist Defry ?The Hammer? Palulu, sending the Indonesian through the ropes with a series of vicious left hooks to the ribs to be counted out by referee Tony Pesons at the 2:59 mark of round two.
Banal upped his record to 31-2-1 with 22 knockouts while Palulu suffered his first set loss for a 10-1, 9 knockout slate.
Click here to view a list of other articles written by Ronnie Nathanielsz.
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