Dubai: The Pagara brothers lived up to the expectations of their band of followers when winning, although in contrasting styles, at the Pinoy Pride 32: Duel in Dubai event at the Dubai World Trade Centre (DWTC) late on Friday.
‘Prince’ Albert Pagara took less than two minutes of the first round to secure a technical knock-out against challenger Jesus ‘Chito’ Rios of Mexico to successfully retain his IBP Intercontinental Junior Featherweight Championship belt.
His older brother Jason, meanwhile, was less convincing in his controversial win over Mexican challenger Ramiro ‘Xixime’ Alcaraz.
Dubbed as the ‘Mexico versus Philippines Challenge’, the main fight of the night had barely gained any rhythm by the time Albert launched a barrage of blows midway through the opening round to unsettle his Mexican opponent. Rios took the first count and then lurched forward, only to see the Prince land a deadly left hook that floored him with less than two minutes on the clock.
“This is a huge win for boxing in Dubai. It was not an easy one as he [Rios] is a tough opponent. But I was confident in my ability as I had put in a lot of hard work during my preparation for this fight,” Albert said after his triumph.
The previous bout between the older Pagara and Alcaraz, however, did not go the same way. The Filipino was on the back foot for much of the time as Alcaraz managed to open a cut on Jason’s left eye in the third round. But the Filipino referee asked the three judges to deduct a point from Alcaraz for an intentional head-butt.
After that, Alcaraz managed to open up the gash further and the referee stopped the fight mid-way through a round and asked the ring-side doctor to stop the bleeding.
As Jason struggled to stave off further damage to his left eye, Alcaraz continued his attacks, much to the dismay of the predominantly Filipino crowd.
In the eighth round, the referee stopped the fight alleging a second head-butt from the Mexican and awarded Jason a unanimous decision.
“I feel I was the winner out there, but the judges decided to carry out their plan. I feel cheated as I was dominant throughout the eight rounds we were in the ring,” the Mexican told media.
“Everything is not lost. We are going to file an appeal before the IBF [International Boxing Federation] seeking a review of the fight. We will appeal for a re-match. We will appeal against the promoter ALA Boxing. They [they Filipino boxers] were at home here and they just came and implemented their plan of cheating me even though I am the deserving winner.”
