JASON PAGARA KNOCKS OUT JOSE ALFARO IN THE FIRST ROUND

CEBU CITY -- Jason 'El Nino' Pagara made short work of visiting former world champion Jose Alfaro of Nicaragua on the main undercard of the Melindo-Sakkreerin IBF Interim world light flyweight championship at the Cebu Coliseum here Saturday night.

Pagara connected with a couple of hard body shots at the closing seconds of the very first round the last one landed squarely on Alfaro's liver area that sent the Nicaraguan grimacing in pain while kneeling on the canvas and unable to beat the referee's count. Time of stoppage was at 2:59 seconds of the first round in their 10-round scheduled welterweight contest.

Pagara, ranked No. 1 by the WBO in the super lightweight division, continues to bide time waiting for his turn to fight for a world title. He now improves to 40-2-0, 25KOs and has gone undefeated in the last five years. Alfaro dropped to 28-11-1, 24KOs.