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Jason Pagara / Photo by Ryan Songalia –

DAVAO, Philippines – Filipino junior welterweight Jason Pagara capped the “Pinoy Pride 29″ card at the University of Southeastern Philippines Gym with a second-round blowout win over Cesar Chavez.

Pagara (35-2, 22 knockouts) dropped Chavez (24-8, 12 KOs) twice in the first round and once more in the second before referee Bruce McTavish stopped it at the 1:56 mark, sending Chavez to his eighth loss, all by knockout.

Pagara dropped Chavez early in the fight with a left hook to the body. With a knee on the canvas, Chavez took another hard right hand that gave him a good reason to stay down.

Chavez rose up, living up to his nickname “El Dolar,” which he says was given to him because he goes up and down like the foreign exchange rate. He was dropped again later in the round on a flurry of punches, perhaps feeling overwhelmed. The final knockdown in the next stanza came off of a lunging left hook from Pagara.

With the Sinaloa, Mexico, native down on the canvas and holding his right eye, the referee saw no reason to continue the bout.

“I’m ready for the next level,” said the Cagayan de Oro, Philippines, native Pagara, who has now won eight straight since his upset loss to Rosbel Montoya in 2011.

With virtually no domestic fighters in his weight class, Pagara’s opposition has been questionable at times. He says he wants to test himself against more formidable opposition, namely RING junior welterweight champion Danny Garcia and former 140-pound unified champion Amir Khan.

Pagara’s promoter, Michael Aldegeur of ALA Boxing, says the plan is to relocate Pagara to the United States this year to train in the Los Angeles area, where he can find the necessary sparring to improve.

Aldegeur says Pagara will fight on the company’s first U.S. card in San Diego on May 23 before having a step-up fight at the StubHub Center in Carson, Calif., in September.

“Jason has always been someone who has been in question,” said Aldegeur. “People ask if he’s the real deal. When he comes up and fights some of the big names, that’s when we’ll be able to get some real answers.”

Pagara’s trainer, Edito Villamor, doesn’t put much stock into Chavez’s past shortcomings, however. He feels Pagara had a job to do it and accomplished it early.

“We don’t base off of the record. Mexicans are Mexican fighters. He got hit,” said Villamor.

 Servania scores lackluster win

If Pagara’s opponent brought out the best in him, Juan Luis Hernandez brought out the worst in Genesis Servania. For twelve rounds, Servania chased after the Tijuana, Mexico, resident in a fight that drew boos from the crowd on several occasions.

The 23-year-old Servania, who is currently rated the No. 1 contender to WBO junior featherweight champion Guillermo Rigondeaux (who also holds the RING and WBA belts), was unable to keep his three-fight knockout streak alive as Hernandez came to survive.

Servania (26-0, 11 KOs) started the bout strongly, landing effective left hooks to the body. His jab was absent for long stretches of the bout, however, and at times Servania left himself open for Hernandez’s counterpunches.

The fight seemed on the verge of becoming an all-out brawl in Round 10 when a left hook and a right hand turned Hernandez (17-4-1, 9 KOs) along the ropes. As Servania went to capitalize, Hernandez took chances to counter. Both fighters traded blows until the final bell.

“The opponent is not fighting. He kept running, he was on survival mode,” said Villamor of Servania,rated No. 4 by THE RING at 122 pounds, afterward. “Genesis’ performance was good; his opponent was the problem.”

 Villanueva outguns former champ Miranda

Arthur Villanueva rejuvenated his image as a future contender with a one-sided drubbing of faded former WBO flyweight champion Julio Cesar Miranda in a ten-round junior bantamweight fight. Two judges saw it for Villanueva by the score 98-93 while the third scored it 99-91.

Villanueva (27-0, 14 KOs), who is rated No. 6 by THE RING at 115 pounds, controlled the bout early, digging hooks and straight rights to Miranda’s midsection that slowed the 34-year-old down later on.

Despite being clearly shopworn, Miranda (38-12-2, 29 KOs) remained tough and tricky throughout, switching stances and throwing punches from awkward angles that found their way around Villanueva’s guard.

There were no knockdowns in the bout and Miranda eventually adapted to Villanueva’s power to coast to his inevitable defeat.

The win provides a much-needed boost for Villanueva after flat performances in his last two bouts against Fernando Aguilar and Henry Maldonado.

“I never mind that before,” said Villanueva, when asked if his confidence was affecting by those outings. “I only focused for my fight with Miranda.”

Miranda, who won a flyweight title in 2010 and made three defenses before losing it in a close bout with Brian Viloria, has now lost six of his last nine bouts, with one draw.

Earlier in the night, 19-year-old Mark Magsayo (10-0, 8 KOs) of Tagbilaran City scored a fifth-round technical knockout of Thai Sukkasem Kietyongyuth (13-4, 8 KOs) at the 2:19 mark in a ten-round featherweight bout.

Magsayo set the first knockdown up with a left hook to the body-left uppercut to the chin sequence which blinded Kietyongyuth to the right hand that followed up. The Thai rose up quickly but was met by a two-fisted barrage from Magsayo, who pounded the body to set up bigger punches up top.

As Kietyongyuth retreated to the ropes, Magsayo uncorked an overhand right that sent the Thai head-first out of the ring. The referee immediately stopped the fight without a count.

http://ringtv.craveonline.com/news/380429-jason-pagara-arthur-villanueva-genesis-servania-win-in-philippines

By Dong Secuya –

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DUBAI – Filipino boxers Genesis ‘Azukal’ Servania, ‘King’ Arthur Villanueva and Rey ‘Boom-Boom’ Bautista won their respective fights against Latino opponents in the ‘Pinoy Pride XXVII – Duel in Dubai’ Friday night at the Dubai World Trade Center here to the delight of a full house mostly Filipino crowd who treated the evening’s event like a big party.

servania.wins.140905.01.500wServania wins

Servania’s opponent, Jose ‘Matador’ Cabrera from Mexico, quit at the beginning of the 10th round to give Servania the TKO victory and retained his WBO Intercontinental super bantamweight title. True to his monicker, Cabrera’s stance was like a matador who allowed Servania to throw the first punch before throwing his own counters. Servania, however, timed his punches perfectly and caught Cabrera with a left-right combination that sent Cabrera down to the canvas in the second round. In the third round, Servania, sensing Cabrera was hurt, continued to put pressure as he punished Cabrera with left crosses and looping rights. At the end of the round, Referee Danrex Tapdasan went to Cabrera’s corner and summoned the ring physician to check Cabrera’s condition.

It appeared that it’s only a matter of time before Servania was going to finish the Mexican. In the 4th round, as Servania continued to put on the pressure with the aim of knocking out Cabrera, the Mexican connected with some big counters that stopped Servania on his track and completely changed the complexion of the fight. In the 5th and succeeding rounds, Servania became hesitant as Cabrera’s confidence grew and suddenly Servania’s victory was put in peril. Cabrera probably took the 5th, 6th and 7th rounds before Servania came back strong in the 8th and 9th rounds putting back Cabrera on the defensive. Cabrera was deducted a point in the 8th round for excessive low blow before a clash of heads in the ninth round caused a cut under Cabrera’s left eye. At the end of the ninth round, Cabrera’s cornerman stopped the fight to give Servania a TKO victory in an anti-climactic ending. Servania was widely ahead on the three judges’ scorecards before the stoppage. Servania later said after the fight that he had suffered leg cramps by the 6th round. Servania has now upped his undefeated record to 25 wins with 11 knockouts. The ‘matador’ from Mexico has dropped to 24 wins, 5 losses and two draws.

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Villanueva vs. Maldonado

In the other regional title fight, Arthur Villanueva captured the IBF International Jr Bantamweight Title by defeating Henry ‘El Crespo’ Maldonado of Nicaragua via split decision with scores of 117-110, 116-113 in favor Villanueva and 114-113 for Maldonado. After a quiet first round where both fighters had a feeling out of each other, an explosion of punches came out in the second round when Villanueva connected with a left-right combination that staggered the Nicaraguan. As Villanueva pursued, Maldonado unleashed a flurry of punches of his own that caught Villanueva and sent the Filipino to the canvas in a flash knockdown. When the fight resumed, a phone-booth battle ensued that put jampacked crowd at the edge of their seats. After the smoke of the 2nd round battle subsided, Villanueva, later admiting that Maldonado had hurt him, decided to box and transformed the fight into a battle of wits and attrition until the fight ended. Maldonado was cut in his scalp from the second round fireworks and later sustained multiple cuts in his forehead, eyebrows and the back of his head as the fight progressed. Villanueva has now improved his undefeated record to 26 wins with 14 knockouts while Maldonando dropped to 19-4-0.

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Bautista vs. Martinez

The popular Boom-Boom Bautista won by majority decision against Juan Jose ‘Piquet’ Martinez of Mexico with scores of 68-65, 67-65 and 66-66 in a 10-round non-title fight. As expected, the fight developed into a slambang affair where each fighter was trying to knock each other out. Bautista however got the better of the exchanges most of the time and put Martinez to the canvas in the 5th round. Martinez also had his moments where he cut Bautista’s left eyebrow with a punch and also appeared to hurt Boom-Boom in the later rounds. In the 7th round, a clash of heads caused Bautista a deep cut in his left eyelid where blood was oozing profusely. Veteran referee Bruce McTavish summoned ring physician Rene Bonsubre to check on Bautista’s cut where Bonsube recommended to McTavish to stopped the fight. Bautista has improved his record to 36-3-0 with 26 knockouts while Martinez suffered his 2nd defeat in 21 fights. 

In the undercard, local favorite Filipino Larry Abarra of the Round 10 Boxing Club of Dubai displayed pin-point punching and ring smarts to overpower and totally outbox Chatpayak Nuengkawkawhok of Thailand in a four round superbantamweight bout. 

Two other Round 10 Boxing Club mainstays Deo Kizito of Uganda and Mohammad Akram of Syria also won their bouts. Kizito edged Anusher Abdullaev of Uzbekistan with scores of 38-36, 38-37 and 38-37 while Akram scored three knockdowns against Thailand’s Kong Windy Sports en route to 2nd round knockout victory. 

The ALA Promotions’ and ABS-CBN’s first international boxing event on the highly popular ‘Pinoy Pride’ series was hugely successful as the 2,600 tickets printed for the event were sold-out. A few hundred people who came to the venue were not able to get in there were no more tickets available.

http://philboxing.com/news/story-98628.html

ALEX LEAPAI.lionheartPhoto: Google images/www.aus-boxing.com —


PhilBoxing.com

Hengyang, CHINA–Australia’s Alex “Lionheart” Leapai proved true to his moniker after he eked out a workmanlike stoppage win over the very game Mexican heavyweight fighter Felipe Romero at the jampacked Hengyang Stadium here, in the process retaining his World Boxing Organization (WBO) Asia Pacific heavyweight title.

The Samoa-born Leapai, who came in at 110 kilograms at the weigh-in prior to the bout, applied pressure all throughout the bout, but found himself at the receiving end of Romero’s jabs and body shots along the way. Fighting with blood oozing from his nostrils, Romero tried to outbox Leapai, but could not handle the power of the reigning champion.

Leapai scored the first knockdown of the night right at the get-go, sending Romero crashing to the canvas for the count, but could not put away the fleet-footed heavyweight Mexican who danced his way out of harm’s way.

The end came at the 2:13 mark of the ninth round after Leapai sent Romero twice to the canvas, prompting referee Bruce McTavish to put an end to the fight.

Leapai was quoted as saying he broke his hand in the first round, which could have explained why he could not finished Romero earlier than expected.

At the time of the stoppage, both judges Salven Lagumbay and Danrex Tapdasan of the Philippines scored the bout 77-74 for Leapai while Thailand’s Sawaeng Thaweekon saw it at 78-73 in favor of the Queensland-based heavyweight. With the win, Leapai improved to 29 wins, 4 losses, 3 draws with with 24 knockouts. Romero dipped to 16 wins, 7 losses, 1 draw with 11 knockouts.

Supervisor for the fight was WBO Asia Pacific chairman Leon Panoncillo assisted by WBO Australia representative Danny Leigh.

Meanwhile, earlier in the day, promoter Liu Gang also sponsored a seminar for officials conducted by the WBO, where Chinese pro boxing officials learned tips from veteran fight officials Bruce McTavish, Salven Lagumbay, Sawaeng Thaweekon, and Danrex Tapdasan.

The aim was to improve pro boxing officiating in China, said the 42-year-old Liu Gang, one of China’s biggest promoters.

http://philboxing.com/news/story-85992.html

 

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Pinoy Pride XXI WBO Officials (L-R): Referee Raul Caiz Jr, Judges Salven Lagumbay, Ed Olalo, Joe Garcia and Bruce McTavish, WBO Vice-President Leon Panoncillo Jr, Referee Danrex Tapdasan and Judge Ulysses Glen. Photo by Dong Secuya.

No less than the biggest boxing promoters in the country are in agreement that when it comes to holding the biggest and the best events, officials of the World Boxing Organization (WBO) in the Philippines and elsewhere in Asia are at par with the best anywhere in the world.

This was nowhere more evident than during the “Pinoy Pride XXI” event at the plush Solaire Resort and Casino, where the WBO once again had a big night with two title belts being put at stake for the mega boxing promotion.

WBO Asia Pacific chairman Leon Panoncillo, who single-handedly brought the WBO in Asia into the world, takes much pride in his officials, indicating the high level of professionalism attained by the officials all through these years.

This is the same professionalism that has earned the respect of ALA Promotions, the country’s biggest promoter, as the WBO officials are noted for the amount of improvement they have racked up since the first edition of Pinoy Pride series.

“I commend you for arriving on time for the weigh-ins and rules meetings. I know you are busy in your respective fields, but you really take the time to join each rules meeting and you dress the part,” said Panoncillo, noting that WBO officials are always prim and proper during meetings leading up to fight night.

ALA Promotions patriarch, the beloved sportsman Antonio L. Aldeguer, is always first to commend the WBO officials based on how they conduct themselves during weigh-ins and fight night. WBO officials always attend weigh-ins in suits and formal attire, a big departure from the old school organizations whose officials wear jeans and shirts during weigh-ins and press conferences.

WBO Asia chairman Leon Panoncillo also makes sure everything is in order before each fight, making sure all purses, sanctioning fees and officials’ fees are turned in before the first bell. This is a far cry from stories we hear of fighters and officials not getting paid in other organizations.

Even ABS-CBN, which covers the ‘Pinoy Pride’ series and the biggest television network in the country, are apparently impressed with how the WBO runs shows in the country. Veteran sportswriter and commentator Ronnie Nathanielsz always notes how the officials score fairly and conduct themselves in the right manner.

As it is, all these is a result of long years of improving and having a keen understanding of the sport, said Panoncillo.

“We could not have done this without the support of credible promoters like ALA Promotions and leading network like ABS-CBN,” the WBO exec said.

In the Philippines, the WBO boasts of two officials who are licensed by the Association of Boxing Commissions (ABC), regarded as the universal organization for boxing. International boxing judge Salven Lagumbay was the first Filipino to earn an ABC certification, followed by international referee Danrex Tapdasan. International judge Edward Ligas is also a regular WBO Convention attendee, just like Lagumbay and Tapdasan.

http://philboxing.com/news/story-85251.html