But other Filipinos hold the fort…

But other Filipinos hold the fort…

by rick olivares

The Viloria-Tamara fight wasn’t the only one that featured a Filipino fighter versus a foreign adversary.

Jason Pagara, a 17-year old fighting out of Tony Ala’s stable, was the beneficiary of a hometown decision against Thailand’s Eddy Comaro when he won by majority decision despite being hammered all fight long and looking largely unimpressive. The Cuneta Astrodome crowd let the judges (who scored it 96-94, 98-92, and 95-95) hear it.

Pagara was slow and showed no imagination whatever to his game plan. He would throw harmless punches that missed or hit the Thai’s gloves (that do not score a point) before Comaro would let him have it on the counter. Even after the fight, you could tell that Pagara has been in a scrap while Comaro looked ready to go another 10 rounds.

The second of the undercard of Collision Course pitted the come backing Jimrex Jaca and Indonesian Ramadhan Weiru. The latter showed no ring discipline and no defense as Jaca jabbed at him all throughout before throwing some powerful hooks that rocked him. With 10 seconds left in the 5^th round, Jaca dumped him on the canvass with a powerful combination and was unable to answer the 10-count. Jaca, who had not fought in 15 months, did a headstand at the center of the ring with this big win. His record now stands at 29-6-3.

In the co-main event and in a non-title fight, WBO Minimumweight Champion Donnie Alas foreshadowed the main event when he dominated Mexico’s Jesus Silvestre early on even scoring a knockdown in the first round. But Silvestre, who trains under boxing legend Erik Morales, fought gamely back and seemed to have a chance to steal the fight if he could deck the champion. But in the 10^th and final round, after taking a punch to the face, the challenger spat out his bloodied mouthpiece as he couldn’t breathe. Much to the surprise of everyone, he made the mental mistake of retreating to his corner where his trainer gave him a sip of water forcing the referee to disqualify him.

In an earlier fight, Dodie Boy Peñalsoa Jr., cheered on by an excited crowd, knocked out Anthony Balubar with 24 seconds left in the 2^nd Round to win his first professional fight. Despite being an orthodox fighter, it was Peñalosa’s left fist that twice decked the Baguio-based Balubar. Said, Peñalosa Sr. after the fight, “Na-relieve ako. Ako ninenerbyos eh. Lalagpasan ng anak ko yung mga nagawa ko.” Dodie Sr. is a former IBF Light Flyweight and IBF Flyweight champion. His son is a 3^rd Year Engineering student at Southwestern University in Cebu who took inspiration not only from his father and uncle Gerry Peñalosa’s ring exploits but also those of compatriots Manny Pacquiao, Brian Viloria, and Nonito Donaire.

This article appears in the Monday January 25, 2010 edition of the Business Mirror.