SO I?M sitting there by the bar?where I am usually stationed, watching Pinoy Pride 20, nursing my nth beer for the night.
I am complaining incessantly to ALA Promotions? prolific Vice-President Dennis Ca?ete about Jimrex Jaca?s ill-advised penchant for dropping his hands when boom?suddenly it happens almost providentially.
Just a few seconds before the bell rings to end the fight, Jaca gets tagged while backing up with his hands at his sides, and down he goes.
I grunt and mutter something unintelligible, but thankfully Jaca gets up and survives to finish the fight.
A few minutes later his opponent, Jose Emilio Perea plops down in the table behind ours, and looks like 10 men just jumped him in an alley.
GOOD OLD DAYS. Jaca put up a good fight, but that bad habit of his is going to come back to haunt him again.
Only very few fighters, the fast ones can get away with putting their hands down.
Even Floyd Mayweather doesn?t really put his hands all the way down when he employs his shoulder roll defense.
Roy Jones got away with it a lot when he was young and at his peak, but Antonio Tarver eventually solved the riddle.
I hear good things about Jimrex doing the requisite hard work in the gym, but after seeing him in a life-and-death struggle with Perea, I just don?t see how he can regain the elite level status he had when he dueled with the formidable Juan Manuel Marquez back in 2006.
Of course, the fact that he intentionally head-butts his opponents right now is probably emblematic of where he is right now, talent-wise.
SERVANIA. Genesis Servania put on an impressive show by dominating Isack Junior of Indonesia who came into the fight employing a second rate Mayweather shoulder-roll defense.
Servania didn?t seem to mind the style catastrophe unfolding in front of him and tore right into his opponent like he was just a piece of meat.
Watching Servania unload combo after combo conjured up images of Oscar dela Hoya beating up Mayweather along the ropes. If only the ?Golden Boy? had the stamina?.
MAIN EVENT. Jason Pagara acquitted himself nicely and lived up to his billing as the main event attraction.
Mexican banger Aaron Herrera came ready to rumble and the two wasted no time in sizing each other up as the first two rounds elicited furious exchanges.
Pagara looked to be the stronger fighter as he hurt and wobbled Herrera with a nasty looking uppercut which merited him a knockdown.
He dominated most of the early rounds and seemed poised for a stoppage win later in the fight.
However, Herrera bounced back in the middle rounds and seemed to be getting stronger as the championship rounds neared.
Thankfully, ?El Nino? had enough left in his tank to survive the late rally and finish credibly.
Pagara has decent pop in both hands and is aggressive enough to make his fights fan-friendly. He should benefit from a little more seasoning against tough, crafty opponents and probably from more exposure fighting abroad.
Kudos to ALA Promotions for bringing in a tough, credible opponent who was a very live underdog to beat Pagara. The ALA pug was severely tested in that fight and the give-and- take affair was a hit with the crowd.
SEEN. In attendance ringside were Judges Hon. Wilfredo Navarro, Hon. Frank Seville, Hon. Veronico Sardoncillo, Cebu City Prosecutor Nicolas Sellon and lovely wife Flora, MCTOA?s Richard Cabucos and lawyers Climaco Camiso and William Manus.
LAST ROUND. It?s on former ALA Promotions Director for Media and Marketing and now vice mayor-elect of Bantayan, Chad Ca?ares. Cheers!
