Filipino Mark Magsayo turned an imminent loss into an electrifying win, knocking out Mexico’s Julio Ceja 50 seconds into the 10th round of their World Boxing Council featherweight title eliminator Saturday at T-Mobile Arena in Las Vegas in the undercard of Manny Pacquiao’s fight against Yordenis Ugas.
Behind on the scorecards after a sound beating from the Mexican in the middle rounds, Magsayo slowly recovered and saw an opening in the 10th, landing a vicious right straight that snapped Ceja’s head back.
Magsayo soon landed a solid right hook to the jaw of the Mexican to finally put him down on the canvas, where he stayed down and was attended to by the arena’s medical staff.
The 26-year-old fighter from Bohol remained undefeated as he raised his record to 23-0 (16 KOs) and put himself in line to battle for the WBC belt currently held by American Gary Russell Jr.
Ceja remained winless in nearly four years and dropped to 32-5-1 (28 KOs), with his last victory coming in November 2017.
Magsayo started the bout as the aggressor as he landed a stinging left hook that sent Ceja to the seat of his pants in the first round.
But Ceja regained his composure, dominating the succeeding rounds and even knocking Magsayo down in the fifth with his own left hook.
Magsayo looked beat from there but hung on until he backed Ceja to the ropes in the 10th, when his stinging rights sealed his victory.
In a preliminary card, Filipino John Dato suffered the first loss of his professional career after a unanimous decision defeat to Angel Antonio Contreras.
Dato was knocked out in the third round of the eight-round featherweight contest as he dropped to a 14-1-1 (9 KOs) win-loss-draw record.
