UNBEATEN Prince Albert Pagara faces the biggest test of his career against Mexico’s rugged Cesar Juarez, who engaged Nonito “The Filipino Flash” Donaire in a brutal battle for the vacant WBO super bantamweight title in San Juan, Puerto Rico on Dec. 11.
Donaire dropped Juarez twice in the fourth round to eventually earn a lopsided decision, in which Juarez admitted he lost, but that the judges scorecards did not reflect the closeness of the bout.
All three judges were from Puerto Rico.
Jose Roberto Torres and Nelson Vazquez had Donaire the winner, 116-110, while Gerardo Martinez also scored it for Donaire by a wider 117-109 margin.
Featured columnist Brian Mazique of Bleacher Report said that while the Donaire-Juarez title fight was not the main event of the TV broadcast and it wasn’t massively hyped, Donaire’s unanimous decision victory over the Mexican turned out to be a “legitimate Fight of the Year candidate. The two men laid their hearts and bodies on the line in a memorable scrap, but Donaire prevailed.”
Since the loss to Donaire, Juarez also dropped a 10-round split decision to Giovanni Delgado, who had a record of 15-4 with 9 knockouts.
Jake Donovan of Boxing Scene wrote: “Three months after taking Donaire to hell and back, Juarez was brought crashing back to earth. The super bantamweight hopeful suffered a stunning split decision loss to Delgado in their 10-round clash in Mexico City.”
Donovan said: “The concept behind the fight was proving that Juarez belonged among super bantamweight contention following his brave showing versus Donaire. A win in this fight was rumored to have lined up a future showdown with unbeaten Albert Pagara, with the winner likely to race to the front of the line for a title shot. It wasn’t to be on this night for the local favorite, who was sound offensively, but struggled to keep a determined Delgado at bay. The fight was back-and-forth for much of the night, but with Delgado often landing first and at a greater rate.”
ALA Promotions’ President Michael Aldeguer, who is still in the US, told The Standard he had just finalized the Pagara-Juarez fight on July 9 in San Francisco, with Zanfer Promotions, which is headed by Fernando Beltran.
“This is the biggest test of Albert. We knew it would be a dangerous fight and is a risk to his No. 2 world ranking, but again just like (Mark ‘Magnifico’) Magsayo, we need to find out if he has what it takes to be a world champion,” said Aldeguer, pointing out that Juarez gave Donaire one of the toughest fights in his career. “So this should be another exciting fight. This will be a make-or-break fight for Albert’s career.”
Juarez, who is 24 years old, won the vacant WBO International super bantamweight title with a unanimous decision over Juan Carlos Sanchez Jr.
The 22-year-old Pagara has an impressive record of 18 knockouts in 26 wins. with no defeats and is coming off a lopsided near-shutout decision over Yesner Talavera last Feb. 27 at the Waterfront Hotel and Casino in Cebu City, with judges Salven Lagumbay and Greg Ortega turning in identical 120-107 scorecards. Edward Ligas had Pagara the winner, 119-108.
In his US debut at the StubHub Center in Carson City, California, Prince Albert scored his biggest win with a rousing 6th round knockout of fancied Nicaraguan southpaw William Gonzalez on October 17, 2015 to win the vacant WBO Youth Intercontinental title.