Magsayo grinds way to decision win vs Mexican

LAS VEGAS, United States — Former featherweight champion Mark Magsayo dished it all but wasn’t able to put away Mexico’s Jorge Mata, fashioning out a unanimous-decision win Saturday (Sunday Manila time) at the MGM Graden Arena here.

Magsayo won with 100-90 shutouts on two judges’ scorecards and also bagged the third card, 98-92, to march on with the victory and wrest the World Boxing Council (WBC) Continental Americas super featherweight title.

The fight was the second preliminary bout of the Manny Pacquiao-Mario Barrios show.

The 30-year-old Filipino slowed down in the middle rounds but managed to hold on against Mata, who turned out to be a tough nut to crack.

Magsayo’s finest moments came in the fourth round, when he clipped Mata with some powerful shots, including a booming right uppercut to the jaw.

But the Mexican, his face bloodied, pressed on, stalking Magsayo but threw relatively fewer punches.

Magsayo was the more aggressive fighter for most of the bout, with Mata opting to just time his foe, hoping to land a money shot.

But that decisive punch never came, and Magsayo poured it all in the final round of their 10-round tussle for a strong finish to take home the regional title.

Magsayo, who previously held the WBC featherweight belt, raised his record to 28-2 (with 18 knockouts), boosting his bid to become a two-division champion. 

Mata, for his part, dropped to 21-3-2, with 13 KOs.