No longer undefeated.
Albert Pagara suffered his first loss on the morning of Sun, Jul 10, (Sat night in California) against Mexican boxer Cesar Juarez who knocked him out before the end of the eight round.
Rated number two by the World Boxing Organization (WBO), Pagara has won 26 straight fights, 18 of which were by knock-out.
However, the persistently agile Juarez (18 wins, 5 losses), who also gave Nonito Donaire Jr. a run for his money back in December, was just too much for Pagara during their fight at the San Mateo Event Center in California.
After the winning knock-out blow by Juarez, Pagara tried to get up but fell on his knees and failed to get back up. He was then taken to a local hospital on a stretcher. Soon enough, his trainer Edito Villamor assured everyone that Pagara was fine and posted a photo of Pagara inside the hospital.
After being discharged, ABS-CBN sports correspondent Dyan Castillejo interviewed Pagara, who only apologized for not winning. “Sorry talaga kasi hindi ako nanalo… Ginawa ko naman lahat, pero nauhanan lang tayo. Sorry, sorry talaga… Sa susunod, pagbubutihan natin. Mag-ingat tayo sa laban,” Pagara told Castillejo.
With this win, Juarez is now the WBO Intercontinental Super Bantamweight champion. He also wasted no time in challenging Donaire, the reigning WBO World Super Bantamweight champion, for the world title match.
