ALA fighters undergo quality sparring in United States

MANILA, Philippines - Sparring has never been so tough for three of the ALA boxers headlining the “Philippines vs the World” card at the StubHub Center in Carson City, California on Oct. 17.

The Pagara brothers, Albert and Jason, and Mark Magsayo have been training at the Wild Card Gym in Los Angeles for over two weeks now, making the most out of it.

These young boxers are in the US for the first time.

Their Filipino trainer, Edito Villamor, said sparring has been excellent so far for the three because of quality sparring partners.

“Dito ang sparring parang laban talaga (Sparring here is like an actual fight),” he told The STAR yesterday from their nest somewhere in Los Angeles.

It’s far different back home when the ALA boxers end up sparring among themselves.

Even the Pagara brothers, 19-year-old Albert at junior-featherweight and 23-year-old Jason at welterweight, sometimes end up as sparring partners when in Cebu.

“Sa atin kasi alalay kasi magka-kaibigan eh (Back home, they tend to take it easy because of their friendship). Dito parang tunay na laban (Here it’s like an actual fight),” said Villamor.

At the Wild Card Gym, they’ve sparred with boxers from Mexico, Africa, Russia, Armenia and Kazakhstan. They don’t get that kind of sparring in the Philippines.

“Coach Freddie (Roach) throws in pointers during sparring. And he’s impressed with our young boxers because of their dedication,” said Villamor in Filipino.

“Impressed naman si coach Freddie,” he said, adding that at one point, the celebrated trainer handled the mitts session with the three ALA boxers.

Albert is undefeated in 23 fights. He will put his WBO International junior-featherweight title at stake versus William Gonzalez (27-5 with 23 knockouts) of Nicaragua.

Jason, on the other hand, locks horns with another fighter from Nicaragua – Santos “El Toro” Benavides (25-7-2 with 19 knockouts).

Magsayo, 21 and undefeated in 11 fights, will test Mexico’s Yardley Suarez for the IBF Youth featherweight crown.

Donnie Nietes, who headlines ALA’s first card in the US, is still in Cebu training for the defense of his WBO light-flyweight title against Mexico’s Juan Alejo.

“Donnie will arrive here next week. Excited na din siya makarating dito (He’s excited to get here),” said Villamor.