By Ronnie Nathanielsz
Cebu fight fans are eager to watch the good-looking Pagara brothers Jason and “Prince Albert” face off against seasoned Mexicans when ALA Promotions brings back its tremendously successful “Pinoy Pride” series to the Waterfront Hotel and Casino on Saturday.
ALA Promotions president Michael Aldeguer told the Manila Standard that the welterweight Jason Pagara and super bantamweight “Prince Albert” Pagara had highly successful Mall tours since Saturday and put on a public workout at the Pacific Mall on Sunday with “the response being really good because this is the first time we are featuring the Pagara brothers.”
Aldeguer noted that Cebu fights have been used to always having fights at the Waterfront but with a shifting of fight cards to Manila, there is a hunger factor which is evident.
He said the different Malls “have been very cooperative and this is the first time we visited all the Malls in Cebu which included SM and Robinson’s.
Mexican challengers Mario Meraz who battles Jason Pagara and Hugo Partida who clashes with “Prince Albert” Pagara are scheduled to arrive on Tuesday and have vowed to reverse the tide of Mexican defeats in recent months.
Aldeguer told the Standard the Pagara brothers “look really good and Albert is in good shape and looks very sharp.”
He said the younger Pagara knows this is his biggest fight so far and is determined to put on a show while Jason has learned from his loss to Rosbel Montoya which he avenged in a rematch and is sharply focused for his showdown with Meraz.
The 25 year old Jason, nicknamed “El Nino” has a record of 33-2 with 20 knockouts while “Rocky” Meraz has an impressive record of 16 knockouts in 20 wins with three losses.
In his last fight on May 14, Meraz scored a ten round unanimous decisionover Javier Carrera whom he dropped in the opening round but was himself sent to the canvas in round four.
Ringside reports said that in an exciting match-up Meraz won a ten round decision over the WBF North American welterweight titlist Carrera in a fight of “high paced back and forth action where both fightrers scored knockdowns.”
The report said Meraz was “the better boxer of the two, often connecting with good combinations while Carrera landed the more so but rarely followed up on them.”
Both fighters put on a great show for the jubilant fans at ringside and it was clearly one of the best fights in Ensenada this year.
Hugo Partida, the WBC FECARBOX Interim champion with a record of 21-4-2 with 16 knockouts has vowed to inflict the first loss of the young Pagara who has a record of 20-0 with 14 knockouts.
Reports received by the Standard from Mexico state that Partiga is a strong fighter and someone who comes to fight which is typical of Mexican warriors.
