In the opening round, Juarez portrayed the aggressor’s role as he came out swinging with his combinations that clearly unsettled Pagara, but the rising Filipino boxer managed to maintain his poise and came up with his own counter which landed on Juarez’s chin, sending the Mexican to the canvas.
The first-round knockdown was Pagara’s first and last as Juarez started to find his targets on succeeding rounds despite Pagara’s relentless attack from round two onward.
It was a give and take scenario from the second round until the seventh round when Juarez seemed to have noticed that Pagara was slowing down from their earlier exchange of heavy punches. Juarez succeeded in pinning down Pagara toward the end of the seventh round with heavy combinations in a toe-to-toe situation.
Knowing that Pagara was hurt from the earlier exchanges, Juarez immediately stormed Pagara right at the start of the eighth round with quick power shots that brought Pagara down for the count.
Pagara made his U.S. debut at the Stub Hub Center in Carson, California last year with a sixth round knockout win over William Gonzalez of Nicaragua.
The 22-year-old fighter from Maasin City, Southern Leyte, Philippines, was part of the Philippine-based ALA Promotions debut in the US along with brother Jason, Mark Magsayo and longest-reigning Filipino world boxing champion Donnie Niertes. All four of them won their respective fights in a well-attended weekend boxing event dubbed “Pinoy Pride 34.
With his first career loss, Pagara dropped to 26-1-0 while Juarez improved to 18-5-0.
