THE show must go on.
Despite a shocking eighth round knockout loss of one of ALA Gym?s most promising young fighters, Albert Pagara, ALA Promotions is looking on the bright side, a successful second show in the US.
?It is unfortunate that Albert Pagara suffered his first career loss tonight (Sunday morning). But on a positive note, we?re very grateful for the crowd turnout. We had exciting fights from the first bout down to the main event and tickets were sold out. Overall, it was a successful show – achieving ALA Promotions, ABS-CBN Sports, and TFC?s thrust to stage world-class boxing events all over the world,? ALA Promotions president Michael Aldeguer said in a statement.
Pagara, 22, dominated Cesar Juarez early on in the main event of Pinoy Pride 37 – ?Fists of the Future? at the San Mateo Events Center in San Mateo, California. He even knocked down Juarez with a counter left hook. However, Juarez got stronger as the rounds progressed and caught Pagara off-guard with a four-punch combination, knocking him out just 15 seconds into the eighth round.
Pagara was ahead in two of the judges? scorecards with Susan Gitlin scoring it 68-64 and Michael Tate with 67-65, while Kermit Bayless scored it even at 66-66.
After the knockout loss, Pagara was brought out of the ring on a stretcher and was sent to the emergency room of the Stanford Hospital in Palo Alto. He, however, was immediately discharged after all the tests, including a CT scan, came out negative of a head injury. He has been advised by the attending physician to rest from contact sports for at least two weeks.
