November 26, 2016 Pinoy Pride 39 Jason Pagara vs Jose Alfaro at Cebu Coliseum, Cebu City, Cebu, Philippines
Jason Pagara knocks out Jose Alfaro in the first round of Pinoy Pride 39
Jason Pagara (40-2, 25KOs) continued with his winning ways at Saturday night’s Pinoy Pride 39 event. The oldest of the two Pagara brothers knocked out his opponent Jose Alfaro (28-11-1, 24KOs) in just the first round of the match.
The Jason Pagara vs Jose Alfaro match was the co-main event of the Pinoy Pride 39 boxing competition which had also been dubbed as The Road To Redemption. The competition took place on Saturday November 26 night at Cebu Coliseum in the Philippines. It was headlined by a match between Philippines’ Milan Melindo and Thailand’s Fahlan Sakkreerin in which the former emerged victorious.
A knockout in the first round
Nicaragua’s Jose Alfaro was easy meat in the hands of Jason Pagara as the two encountered each other on Saturday. His Filipino opponent needed not two or three rounds but just one round to knock him out.
How did El Niño make such a short work of Nicaragua’s former world champion? You might want to ask yourself this. Well, in simple terms, he used great boxing tactics. Homeboy Pagara used the trick of not letting Alfaro have a breathing space for even a minute. He kept raining body shots at Alfaro from the moment the first bell sounded till the moment he had him on a prolonged stay on the canvas.
Pagara’s body shots were quite vicious. In the dying seconds of the first round, he dealt Alfaro a hard left hook to the liver that sent him on his knees on the canvas. Alfaro was unable to beat the referee’s count and the match was then waved to a stop. The stoppage time was indicated as 2:59 seconds.
The Saturday night was Pagara’s thirteenth straight win. He has been on a winning streak for the last five years. He is currently ranked first in the WBO super lightweight category. The Pinoy 39 welterweight fight was just one of the fights that the 24 year old Pagara is participating in in between as he waits to contest for a world title. This was a non-title fight that had been scheduled for 10 rounds only.
Another Pagara win
Saturday night was not only Jason Pagara’s night but also that of his younger brother Albert Pagara. Albert Pagara was also fighting in the Melindo vs Sakkreerin undercard and was facing Ghana’s Raymond Commey in a 126-pound match. It is this particular match that steered the Maasin City native back to the winning lane as he beat Commey by unanimous decision. Pagara had earlier in July lost to Mexico’s Cesar Juarez. This had been his first career loss.
Unlike in his elder brother’s case, Albert Pagara didn’t have a very easy ride with the Africa based boxer. Commey kept coming at Pagara for the better part of the match and even had him moving backwards at some instances. Pagara however speeded up his attack in the final rounds and managed to convince the judges to declare him a unanimous winner. The win puts the younger Pagara’s ranking at (27-1, 18KOs) and that of his opponent Commey at (16-2, 9KOs).
Other ALA Boxing Promotions youngsters who walked away as Pinoy Pride 39 winners include KJ Cataraja, Jimmy Paypa, and Jeo Santisima. The event had a total of eight matches.
