By Ronnie Nathanielsz

Unbeaten Prince Albert Pagara faces the biggest test of his career against Mexico’s rugged Cesar Juarez who engaged Nonito “The Filipino Flash” Donaire in a brutal battle for the vacant WBO super bantamweight title in San Juan, Puerto Rico on December 11, 2005. The fight takes place on July 9th at the San Mateo Events Center in San Francisco, California.

Donaire dropped Juarez twice in the 4th round to eventually earn a lopsided decision in which Juarez admitted he lost but that the judges scorecards did not reflect the closeness of the bout.

All three judges were from Puerto Rico. Jose Roberto Torres and NNelson Vazquez had Donaire the winner 116-110 while Gerardo Martinez also scored it for Donaire by a wider 117-109 margin.

Featured columnist Brian Mazique of Bleacher Report said that while the Donaire-Juarez title ,fight was not the main event of the truTV broadcast and it wasn’t massively hyped , Nonito Donaire’s unanimous decision victory over Cesar Juarez turned out to be a legitimate “Fight of the Year:” candidate. The two men laid their hearts and bodies on the line in a memorable scrap, but Donaire prevailed.”

Since the loss to Donaire, Juarez also dropped a ten round split decision to Giovanni Delgado who had a record of 15-4 with 9 knockouts.

Jake Donovan of Boxing Scene wrote, “three months after taking Donaire to hell and back, Juarez was brought crashing back down to earth. The super bantamweight  hopeful suffered a stunning split decision loss to Giovanni Delgado in their ten round clash in Mexico City.

Donovan said “The concept behind the fight was proving that Juarez belonged among super bantamweight contention following his brave showing versus Donaire. A win in this fight was rumored to have lined up a future showdown with unbeaten Albert Pagara, with the winner likely to race to the front of the line for a title shot.  It wasn't to be on this night for the local favorite, who was sound offensively but struggled to keep a determined Delgado at bay. The fight was back-and-forth for much of the night, but with Delgado often landing first and at a greater rate.”

ALA Promotions president Michael Aldeguer who is still in the US told The Standard he had “just finalized the Pagara-Juarez fight on July 9 in San Francisco with Zanfer which is headed by Fernando Beltran.

Aldeguer told us “ this is the biggest test of Albert. We knew it would be a dangerous fight and is a risk to his No. 2 world ranking  but again  just like (Mark ‘Magnifico’) Magsayo we need to find out if he has what it takes to be a world champion” and pointed that Juarez gave Nonito one of the toughest fights in his career so this should be another exciting fight.”

Michael added, “this will be a make or break fight for Albert’s career.”

Juarez who is 24 years old won the vacant WBO International super bantamweight title with a unanimous decision over Juan Carlos Sanchez Jr.

The 22 year old Pagara has an impressive record of 18 knockout in 26 wins with no defeats and  is coming off a lopsided near shutout decision over Yesner Talavera last February 27 at the Waterfront Hotel and Casino in Cebu City with judges Salven Lagumbay and Greg Ortega turning in identical 120-107 scorecards while Edward Ligas had Pagara the winner 119-108.

In his US debut at the StubHub Center in Carson City, California, Prince Albert  scored his biggest win with a rousing 6th round knockout of fancied Nicaraguan southpaw William Gonzalez on October 17, 2015 to win the vacant WBO Youth Intercontinental title.