Mark Magsayo leaves for the site where Manny Pacquiao’s legend was born on 5 July, four days before making a mandatory defense of his World Boxing Council (WBC) featherweight crown.
As he prepares to wrap uphill Los Angeles training camp under Freddie Roach, Magsayo has been nothing but terrific in his prep for fellow unbeaten Rey Vargas of Mexico.
The scheduled 12-rounder will take place at the Alamodome in San Antonio, where in November 2003, Pacquiao mauled Mexican great Marco Antonio Barrea to a shameful 11th-round knockout defeat.
“Mark’s been doing very, very well,” reported the Filipino puncher’s lead representative Sean Gibbons from sunny Southern California.
Magsayo kicked off his camp for Vargas in April shortly after arriving from a vacation in the Philippines.
Magsayo is one of only two remaining Filipino world boxing champions at the moment.
The other — minimum weight Rene Cuarto — is also risking his title against Daniel Valladares on Friday night (Saturday in the Philippines) in Monterrey, Mexico.
At the start of the year, there were five Filipino world champions.
But three fell by the wayside in the months that have passed.
Jerwin Ancajas’ long reign as International Boxing Federation super-flyweight king was ended by Argentine Fernando Martinez.
John Riel Casimero was stripped by the World Boxing Organization of his bantam belt ring to back-to-back infractions while Nonito Donaire had his WBC strap taken away in a savage manner by Naoya Inoue last month.
