JASON PAGARA KNOCKS DOWN SANTOS BENAVIDES 3 TIMES EN ROUTE TO 2ND ROUND STOPPAGE VICTORY

STUBHUB CENTER ? WBO No. 2 lightweight contender Jason 'El Nino' Pagara of the Philippines made short work of his opponent Santos Benavides sending the slower Nicaraguan three times to the canvas in the fateful 2nd round for a TKO victory as Referee Raul Caiz Sr waived the contest after the 3rd knockdown in the 2nd bout of Pinoy Pride 33 Saturday night here in Carson, CA Saturday night to the delight of the noisy pro-Filipino crowd.

In the 1st round Pagara begun to control the fight with his quick one-two combinations that most hit their mark as Benavides's wide punching misses Pagara. As the second round begun, Benavides tried to throw more punches but exposed himself to Pagara's counters and with a crisp combination to the head in the first minute, Benavides went down for the first time. Midway thru the round Pagara threw a crushing right to the body of Benavides sending the Nicaraguan reeling to the canvas for the second knockdown. Another left-right combination by Pagara to Benavides' chin towards the end of the round finished off the Nicaraguan as the referee didn't bother to count as Benavides sat on the canvas with blurry eyes. Time of stoppage is at 2:52 seconds of the 2nd round.

Pagara now improves to 38-2-0 with 23 knockouts while Benavides dropped to 25-8-2 with 19 stoppages.