Magsayo stays unbeaten, escapes game vs Hermosillo

Filipino featherweight Mark Magsayo flexes his muscles during the official weigh-in ahead of his bout against Mexico’s Rigoberto Hermosillo at Microsoft Theater in Los Angeles. Photo from Marvin Somodio’s Instagram

MANILA, Philippines — Mark Magsayo maintained his perfect run after overcoming Rigoberto Hermosillo and come away with a split decision victory in their 10-round featherweight bout Sunday (Manila time) at Microsoft Theater in Los Angeles.

Hermosillo was a late replacement for Jose Haro, who announced his retirement just weeks before the Premier Boxing Champions card, and he gladly brought the fight to Magsayo.

Magsayo was able to land the harder punches with better efficiency at 136 of 417 attempts or at 33 percent rate but Hermosillo was the busier fighter with 856 thrown punches, though, he landed just 181 of them for a 21% rate, as per RingTV.com.

This higher volume allowed Hermosillo to take the nod of one of the judges who gave him a 96-94 scorecard but Magsayo was the better fighter from the other two getting 96-94 and 100-90 cards.

Hermosillo was able to cut down Magsayo with body shots early in the bout that vastly diminished the Filipino’s head movement.

Magsayo, however, connected with his own body shots in the fifth that turned the fight in his favor opening Hermsillo’s guard.

The Filipino then, upped the ante in the ninth round landing a couple of stiff left hooks that rocked Hermosillo who momentarily hit the floor but that was immediately ruled as a slip after Magsayo bumped him with his hip.

This was the first time that Magsayo fought with Hall of Fame trainer Freddie Roach at his corner alongside assistant Marvin Somodio and conditioning coach Justin Fortune.

After the bout, Roach said that he’d love to see Magsayo take on WBC world featherweight champion Gary Russell Jr. but in due time.

“Gary Russell, I would love to fight him. The thing is, we need a lot more work in the gym,” said Roach as per RingTV.com. “We’ve been working together for a while now but we need some more time and we need to connect a little bit better. He wasn’t following my lead.”

Magsayo improved to 21-0 while Hermosillo dropped his third straight fight, for an 11-3-1 record, after starting his professional career unbeaten in 12 matches.