UNBEATEN featherweight Mark “Magnifico” Magsayo fought back from a fifth-round knockdown to stop Mexican brawler Julio Ceja in the 10th round yesterday (Saturday in the US) at the T-Mobile Arena in Las Vegas.
After being decked in the fifth, Magsayo rallied and caught Ceja with a vicious right straight to the kisser twice to chalkup his 23rd straight win, making the Mexican his 16th knockout victim.
The Mexican scrapper, who was ahead on the scorecards after that knockout and looked headed for a stunning upset, absorbed his fifth loss — the fourth by KO — in 32 matches against one draw.
The match, held in the undercard of the Manny Pacquiao-YordenisUgas title fight, was a World Boxing Council eliminator for the No. 1 ranking in the featherweight division where American Gary Russell Jr. currently reigns.
“I got knocked down and was surprised,” Magsayo said at the post-match press conference.
“But I focused my mind on what I wanted — a world championship shot. It’s my dream and now it’s coming true. Hopefully, my next fight is a world title shot.”
The 26-year-old Boholano pride’s win somewhat softened Pacquiao’s stunning loss by unanimous decision to the crafty Cuban, the reigning World Boxing Association champ.
In the first round, Ceja decked Magsayo, who apparently wanted a quick finish with his right hook, leaving the Mexican wobbly as the round ended.
The two went toe-to-toe in the next three rounds until the Mexican jarred the Filipino with a left hook in the fifth for the second knockdown of the night with barely 10 seconds to go in the round.
Ceja tried to press the advantage in the sixth against Magsayo, who seemed a bit dazed from the hit he took in the previous round.
Regaining his bearing, the Pinoy pug kept his foe at bay with left-right combinations in the seventh before easing up in the eighth and increasing the pressure anew in the next two rounds.
Magsayo connected with a right hand that forced Ceja to back up with 50 seconds remaining to highlight the ninth round.
Magsayo had the final say in the fight, tagging Ceja with a crushing right, followed by another right while the Mexican was on the way down in the last 50 seconds of the 10th.
MP Promotions chief Sean Gibbons immediately entered the ring after the knockout to carry Magsayo back to his corner.
