Pagara brothers on double mission

CEBU, Philippines — Brothers “Prince” Albert and Jason “El Nino” Pagara are both raring to dazzle their hometown fans but more importantly they will try to keep their world title hopes alive as they co-headline the Pinoy Pride 44 show at the Maasin City gym in the capital of Southern Leyte.

Of the two, Albert (29-1, 20KOs) has a tougher mission to carry out when he takes on Laryea Gabriel Odoi (20-3-2, 14KOs) of Accra, Ghana in a 12-round rumble for the WBO Intercontinental super bantamweight crown.

Albert said he will do whatever it takes to come up with an impressive win over Odoi to bolster his chance of resurrecting his childhood ambition to fight for a world title someday.

"I want to give an all-out performance before the hometown crowd in Maasin City. This fight will be my stepping stone to my journey back to the struggle for a world title," said Albert in a report by Maloney Samaco of philboxing.com.

Albert at first appeared to be sailing smoothly towards reaching his dreams.

But his world suddenly came tumbling down when he tasted the bitterness of defeat for the first time when he was stopped in round eight by Mexican banger Cesar Juarez two years ago.

Albert quickly put himself on the comeback trail with three wins in a row but the outcome of his match with Odoi will determine the future of his career.

Jason Pagara, on the other hand, is also aching to put on a show to jack up his bid to climb up the world rankings.

"This fight gives me an opportunity to recover from my shortcomings. Hopefully, I can get back to the world rankings," said Jason in the same report by Samaco, who is also the current mayor of Maasin City.

Pagara is coming off a 6th round TKO loss to the undefeated Japanese Hiroki Okada in their WBO Asia-Pacific super lightweight championship match in December last year in  Tokyo, Japan.

In his ring return, Jason will go up against Wellem Reyk (19-18-4, 5 KOs) of Bogor, Indonesia in what most likely be a tune-up for bigger fights ahead.

Aside from the Pagaras, others featured in the slambang card are rising ALA Gym star Jeo Santisima, three-time regional champion ‘King’ Arthur Villanueva, and Melvin Jerusalem.

Santisima (15-2-0, 13KOs) will lock up horns with Likit Chane (16-5-0, 10KOs) of Thailand for the WBO Oriental junior featherweight belt, Villanueva (31-3-0, 17KOs) of Bago City, Negros Occidental will face off with Renren Tesorio (16-12-3, 4 KOs) of Taguig City, while Jerusalem (12-2, 7KOs) of Manolo Fortich, Bukidnon will mix it up with Philip Luis Cuerdo (10-4-1, 4 KOs) of Mandaluyong City.