Prince Albert Pagara wants to be king of the super bantamweights

Among the long line of boxers from the famed ALA Gym in Cebu, the fighter that is getting well-deserved attention following his near-shutout victory over Mexican veteran Raul Hirales is Prince Albert Pagara, the reigning International Boxing Federation Intercontinental super bantamweight champion.

The fight against Hirales was considered a genuine test for the 20-year-old Pagara who was undefeated going into his “Pinoy Pride XXVIII” showdown with an unblemished record of 21-0 with 15 knockouts, with 9 of those knockouts not going beyond three rounds.

In his last fight on June 21 at the Waterfront Hotel and Casino, Prince Albert annihilated the cocky Mexican Hugo Partida who provoked Pagara at the official weigh-in by head-butting him before ALA Promotions president and other officials on stage pulled the fighters apart.

Pagara who surprisingly kept his cool in the face of the taunting by Partida  told Yahoo Philippines after the incident that he would “make him (Partida) pay in the ring.”

Prince Albert kept his promise and ripped into his Mexican opponent the moment the bell sounded for round one and dropped him three times in the opening round with rapid-fire combinations that  had “extreme pain” written all over them forcing international referee Bruce McTavish to stop the massacre at 1:18 of the round.

Prince Albert had made a statement and told his ALA Promotions handlers to bring on the best so he could prove his worth and they could test the skill, power and maturity of the prince who would want to the king at 122 pounds.

ALA Promotions decided to pick No. 2 ranked  IBF Intercontinental contender Raul Hirales who had a record of 22 wins, 11 of them coming by way of knockouts, 3 losses and 1 draw.

Hirales was also ranked No.2 in the WBO North American Boxing Organization featherweight rankings as of July this year and was undefeated for five years.

The Mexican gave current IBF world champion Carl Frampton a tough fight when they clashed for the IBF Intercontinental title in May 2012 and fulfilled all the credentials necessary to test just how good Pagara is and figure out, based on his performance, how far he could possibly go.

His showing against Hirales gave fight fans and media a glimpse of his true potential and in an effort to keep the momentum going Aldeguer who was given two slots to fill in the Top Rank card scheduled for February 14 at the Cotai Arena in Macau, put in the names of Pagara and WBO light flyweight champion Donnie “Ahas” Nietes who are expected to showcase their talent before a huge audience of Chinese and Filipino fight fans.

Pagara demonstrated remarkable maturity for a young man barely out of his teens in the fight against Hirales.

He was methodical, didn’t rush to prove how good he is, and slowly but surely took Hirales apart.
In the third round Pagara cracked Hirales with two stinging left jabs and a vicious right hand that dropped the Mexican challenger in the dying seconds of the round.

Having felt the power of Pagara, Hirales, who had never been dropped or stopped in his career retreated into defensive mode, intent on going the distance and somehow salvaging his reputation.

In the fourth round, his confidence growing, Prince Albert connected with another solid left-right combination that wobbled Hirales. The Mexican backed off and survived with Pagara showing his ring smarts by not going after Hirales with reckless abandon.
 
With no disrespect to Nietes, the Pagara-Hirales bout was the best on a star-studded card before an overflow crowd.

Oozing with confidence, the Prince who would be king dropped Hirales with a vicious flurry capped by a cracking right on his way to scoring a shutout on the scorecards of two judges – Ian Scott of New Zealand and Alejandro Lopez Cid of Mexico – while Filipino judge Gil Co gave Hirales one round in turning in a 119-108 tally although there were several close rounds which Pagara won anchored on his aggressiveness and his volume of punches that often broke through the peek-a-boo defense of Hirales.

Pagara, who improved his record to 22-0 with 15 knockouts, said Hirales was “really tough and that is why I was not able to knock him out.” With the loss Hirales drops to 22-4-1 with 11 knockouts.

The thing that struck most aficionados at ringside was the cool and calculating manner in which Pagara executed his fight plan, discarding the brash and cocky attitude of a 20-year-old although there were a couple of occasions that his youthful exuberance took over and he showboated for a couple of seconds when the fight was totally under control.

Michael Aldeguer told Yahoo Philippines he was pleased with the “maturity Prince Albert demonstrated” which is important at the highest level of competition.

Aldeguer told us “he was great and showed us more of his potential.”

He noted that Pagara “controlled the fight and controlled the tempo while Hirales wanted to survive.”
For Prince Albert Pagara it is no longer a question of survival. He wants to chase a world title and become king of the super bantamweights.

Judging by his last two fights, clearly the “Prince” is on his way to becoming “King.”