Pinoy Pride ebbs and flows

MANILA, Philippines - It was a setting apt for dinner boxing so fashionable in the 70s at the posh Cebu Waterfront Hotel. But the Pinoy Pride 26 card did more than that, for it provided a venue for a fusion of the haves and have-nots whose passion for boxing have brought them together this humid Saturday night.

So Pinoy Pride ebbed and flowed as Filipino boxers dominated their rivals. Never mind if there’s something flawed in the final bout.

Surely, Cebu is now the hotbed of boxing in the country with the father-son team of Tony and ‘Michael Aldeguer at the helm of this resurgence, getting a boost from ABS-CBN.

World champs were churned out of the famous ALA gym. Donny Nietes, the WBO and Ring world light flyweight titlist, led the cast.

Now Michael Aldeguer is looking beyond the impending post-Manny Pacquiao years and had started scrounging this side of the region for talents, and hopefully pound them in the mould of the great boxing icon later.

“We have to stock up and help fill in the huge void When Manny shall have retired,” he said. The Pagara brothers – Albert and Jason â€“ fit the bill. And they headlined the Pinoy Pride 26 card.

Both were impressive against Mexican foes.

Albert, 20, was simply superior in skills and strength and bludgeoned Hugo Partida into submission in the first round for the IBF intercontinental junior featherweight belt.

Jason, 22, had found a full fight in his hands against a game and scrappy Mario Meraz before keeping his WBO international light welterweight title in a bizarre finish in the fourth round.

The Filipino fighter had sustained the pressure on the Mexican middle of the round and caught him near his corner with a flurry of blows and Meraz reeled on the ropes and crashed before his horrified cornermen.

The Mexican struggled on his feet and was motioned to move forward by the referee but was ruled unfit to continue despite his vehement protests as the bell rang.

“They fear serious damage he may have if he were to continue,” said former PBA star Fritz Gaston, now GAB commish. 

There were some reactions from the ringside on the abrupt end but the thought of more severe punishments Pagara might inflict on the Mexican surfaced and eventually settled the issue.

As Manny Pacquiao would say in his own way: “No need to hurt the guy, boxing is also entertainment.”