LAS VEGAS, Nevada—Mark “Magnifico” Magsayo pulled off a magnificent performance in his budding ring career on Saturday night, knocking out cold Mexican Julio Ceja in the 10th round of their World Boxing Council (WBC) featherweight world title eliminator at the T-Mobile Arena.
Behind in the scorecards—83-86, 83-86, 82-87—after nine rounds, the 26-year-old Tagbilaran City pride caught Ceja with a devastating right straight followed by a finishing right hook to stretch his unbeaten record to 23 bouts with 16 knockouts.
Ceja was unconscious for several minutes urging the ring doctor to send the Mexican to the hospital. The 28-year-old Ceja fell to a 32-5-1 (28 knockouts) record.
“I just worked a lot on the straight punches. I kept working it round after round and when I saw he was hurt, I followed it up,” said Magsayo, who struggled in the third and fifth rounds from Ceja’s lethal body shots.
Magsayo was knocked down after being hit by a strong uppercut in the fifth round, but got up and was saved by the bell. He struggled in the sixth round before catching his second wind in the seventh, where he scored on counter-punches and timely jabs.
Ceja started to fade in the eighth and ninth despite his accurate punches on Magsayo, who was slowly recovering by then.
“I got knocked down and was surprised, but I focused on what I wanted, a world championship shot,” Magsayo said.
Magsayo’s victory earned him a world title shot against WBC featherweight world champion Gary Russel Jr.
“I’m so glad for the outcome. I expected his style to make it happen and I expected a knockout tonight. It’s my dream today, and now it’s coming true. Hopefully my next fight is a world title shot,” he said.
Thirty seconds after the start of the fight,
Magsayo threw a solid right straight that knocked down Ceja 30 seconds into the fight.
It was Magsayo’s third straight win in the US after booking a split decision in Los Angeles over American Rigoberto Hermosillo last October 3 and a brutal fourth-round technical knockout win last April 10 against another American Pablo Cruz in Connecticut.
Image courtesy of AP