Mark Magsayo , aManny Pacquiao protege, threatened to steal aboxing show Saturday in Vegas.- Magsayo was fighting on Pacquiao's undercard and came from behind to score a stunning knockout.
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Mark Magsayo, a protege of the great Manny Pacquiao, celebrated his thumping knockout win Saturday with a backflip in the middle of the Las Vegas ring.
Also from the Philippines, Pacquiao said pre-fight that the unheralded 26-year-old reminds him of himself because of how they "both struggled to come from nothing to a world-rated contender."
Signed to Pacquiao's boxing agency MP Promotions, which is headed by Sean Gibbons, Magsayo fought on his idol's undercard this weekend at the T-Mobile Arena, and threatened to steal the entire show.
Magsayo fought Julio Ceja in a featherweight contest and produced a head-spinning, jaw-dropping performance as he put Ceja on his back, got dropped himself, and came from behind to score a knockout of the year.
Magsayo and Ceja threw caution to the wind as they largely abandoned their jabs to focus on power punches.
Ceja targeted the body and landed 95 shots on Magsayo's midsection in total. In the fifth round that strategic attack took its toll as the Mexican fighter scored his sole knockdown of the night.
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Magsayo showed his toughness by not only getting up from that beating, but turning the fight around - and he had to turn it around by some margin as Ceja out-landed him in terms of punches landed, and was also ahead with scores of 87-82, 86-83, and 86-83 by the time of the stoppage.
But that stoppage came, changed the complexion of the bout, and saw Magsayo score a stunning win as a near-unstoppable right hand that was launched from over the top sent Ceja bouncing off of the ropes, and onto the floor.
As Ceja made his way to the canvas, Magsayo connected with another punch, a crisp and short-range thud to the jaw, just to ensure the win was in the bank.
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"I'm so glad for the outcome," said Magsayo after his win was confirmed, according to The Ring. "I expected his style to make it happen and I expected a knockout tonight."
With the victory, Magsayo advanced his unblemished pro boxing record to 23 wins (16 knockouts) against no losses.
He was taken to hospital as a precaution, The Ring reported, and is gunning for a world championship shot in his next bout.