ALA Promotions to Hold Major Card in Dubai

Cebu-based ALA Promotions will stage another big boxing card, this time in Dubai on August 7, an official said.

ALA Promotions president Michael Aldeguer said said this is their second event in Dubai, where they had their first in September 2014 featuring unbeaten fighters Genesis Servania, Arthur Villanueva and Ray “Boom-Boom” Bautista, who has since retired.

“We’re excited for another spectacular event in Dubai. I have never seen a crowd like that in September last year,” Aldeguer said.

Tickets for the event last year were sold out in less than a week, and during fight night, hundreds were still lining up outside the venue hoping to get inside.

“It was very overwhelming when you see people lining up as early as 3 p.m., four hours before the event. We had to close the doors as people still wanted to get inside,” said Aldeguer.

To accommodate a bigger crowd, which would be composed primarily of overseas Filipino workers, the event will be held at the Dubai World Trade Center, which has a capacity of almost 5,000, double the size of the venue of their first event.

And to entice the crowd to come, ALA will have brothers Albert and Jason Pagara as the headliners of the card.

The undefeated Albert, who is 23-0 with 16 KOs, will defend his International Boxing Federation (IBF) inter continental super bantamweight title against veteran Mexican Jesus Rios, who is 31-7-1 with 25 KOs.

This is Albert’s first main event fight and the boxer nicknamed The Prince says he feels no pressure.

“I’m just focused on my training for the fight, I don’t feel the pressure at all. I think there will be knockout. He’s a fighter who likes to trade punches and that’s the type of boxer I want to fight,” said Pagara, who stopped Rodolfo Hernandez in four rounds in his last fight.

Albert could be right as though Rios won his last fight against journeyman Aram Valle (13-15-1), he lost two fights by knockout prior that.

He will also be coming down from the featherweight (126 pounds) division to fight in the super bantamweight (122) division.

On the other hand, brother Jason, who is 35-2 with 22KOs, wants to extend his winning streak to keep his lofty ranking in the super lightweight division, where he is ranked No. 2 by the World Boxing Organization.

Jason will fight Ramiro Alcaraz (15-4, 9KOs) in a 10-round non-title fight, hoping a win would get him a shot at a world title in the division.

“I just want to keep on fighting and beating every fighter they put in front of me. I will just wait until the chance of fighting for the world title comes,” he said.

Pagara is ranked second in the WBO to Lucas Matthysse, while the current holder of the WBO belt is Terence Crawford (26-0, 18 KOs).

The World Boxing Council and IBF belts are vacant while the World Boxing Association champion is the undefeated Danny Garcia.

In the undercard, veteran Jimrex Jaca (39-8-4, 22KOs), who once fought Mexican legend Juan Manuel Marquez, will face Pablo Lugo Montiel (21-5, 17KOs) in a 10-round non-title bout. (PNA) LAP/EB/MP/SSC