Pinoy Pride 26 "The Fists of the Future"

Pinoy Pride 26 "The Fists of the Future" presents The Pagara brothers of Cagayan de Oro have set high goals inside the boxing ring.

Jason, who will be 22 next month, and Albert, who just turned 20, are set to face Mario Meraz and Hugo Partida of Mexico in the Pinoy Pride card on June 21 at the Waterfront Hotel in Cebu City.

The Pagara brothers, junior welterweight Jason and junior featherweight Prince Albert, as well as their Mexican opponents, easily made the weight for their confrontation in “The Fists Of The Future” on the 26th edition of the ALA Promotions’ presentation at the Pacific Ballroom of the  Waterfront  Hotel and Casino here Saturday evening.

The only real problem is for all four fighters to keep their promise to win by knockout.

At the official weigh-in at the Robinsons Fuente, a huge crowd witnessed the event, with many fight fans telling the Manila Standard they were happy that after several months, ALA Promotions and ABS-CBN decided to return to the hotbed of boxing with two of the most promising young fighters matched against legitimate Mexican warriors.

While Jason Pagara and his opponent Mario Meraz showed no ill-temper during their face-off, Hugo Partida had to be restrained by his trainer Agsin Vazquez De La Cruz and IBF supervisor of the  Intercontinental title fight between him and Prince Albert Pagara. The Mexican head-butted the young Pagara and even attempted to punch him, drawing a roar from the onlookers and an indication of the storied and sometimes bitter rivalry in the ring between Mexico and the Philippines.

Jason Pagara told the Manila Standard that he had studied fight tapes of Meraz and expects to knock him out, while the latter conceded that while the Filipino was an”intelligent and strong fighter,” he is determined to bring the WBO International 140-pound title back to Mexico and is  looking to win by a knockout.