Pagara brothers win in contrasting fashion

CEBU, Philippines - It was a less spectacular performance but ‘Prince’ Albert Pagara (27-1, 18KOs) still returned to his winning ways after a dull 10-round unanimous decision over Raymond Commey (16-4,9KOs) of Ghana in the supporting main bout of Pinoy Pride 39.

“Honestly, it was not an impressive performance from Albert, but we got to understand that it is not easy coming back from a devastating loss,” said ALA Promotions President Michael Aldeguer. “We will give him more fights next year and hopefully, he can slowly regain his old form.”

It was Pagara’s first fight since coming from a devastating eight round knockout loss to Mexican toughie Cesar Juarez  in their WBO Intercontinental super bantamweight championship bout last July 7 at the San Mateo Event Center in San Mateo, California.

“It is still painful when I think of it (the loss to Juarez) but I wasn’t affected by it anymore. My opponent was just durable,” Pagara said. “Hopefully, they’ll (ALA Promotions) continue to believe in me and I promise to do better in my next fight.”

Pagara’s trademark power was there, but he became passive as there were instances that he allowed Commey to pin him to the ropes before landing some combinations.

The 22-year-old Pagara picked up the steam in the sixth round as he connected with some strong hooks to the head of the Ghanaian boxer.The ALA Gym stalwart controlled the succeeding rounds by jabbing from the outside and tagging Commey with some hooks.

After 10 rounds,Pagara got the judges nod at 99-91 in all of the three scorecards.

Unlike his younger brother,  WBO No.1 junior welterweight Jason ‘El Niño’ Pagara (40-2, 25KOs) had a quick knockout victory against former Nicaraguan world champion Jose Alfaro (28-11, 24KOs). Jason sank a brutal hook to the liver that sent the Nicaraguan flat for good at the 2:29 mark of the match.

It was actually a clean sweep by ALA Gym as five of their boxers also won in the undercards. Jeo Santisima stopped Rex Wao in the fifth round, Jimmy Paypa kayoed Jerry Nardo in third, Kevin Jake Cataraja destroyed John Kenan Villafor in the opening bell, Melvin Jerusalem won over Fabio Marfa via unanimous decision, while Virgel Vitor defeated Jonathan Francisco via fourth round TKO. (FREEMAN)