Magsayo: The best is yet to come

LAS VEGAS — Mark “Magnifico” Magsayo believes his best is yet to come following his breakout performance Sunday night at the Meta APEX.

“I think this is my time and this is my prime,” said Magsayo, who stopped Feargal McCrory of Ireland in the fifth round of their scheduled 10-round lightweight match that served as the co-feature of ZUFFA Boxing’s show.

So pumped up and recharged is Magsayo that a much improved version of himself should be displaying his wares anew this August when ZUFFA Boxing stages another card.

“I still have a lot of things to showcase because I am in a division that is right for me, a division which still allows me to eat well and train without feeling weak,” he said after raising his win-loss-draw record to 29–2-0 with 19 knockouts.

McCrory didn’t go down even after eating Magsayo’s best shots but it didn’t prevent his training team to pull the plug with the help of referee Robert Hoyle.

Having been on the receiving end of Magsayo’s hard hits the round before, McCrory was rescued from a sure trip to the deck or a terrible beating when Hoyle called a halt to the bout just seconds into the fifth frame.

Getting the job done wasn’t difficult because McCrory proved to be custom-made for somebody like him.

“As early as the first round, I felt that the fight was in the bag…McCrory is one-dimensional.”

Besides, Magsayo revealed that the sparring partners they took me in resembled McCrory, making it easy for the Filipino to score almost at will and put the New York-Irish where rightfully belongs.

In the end, Magsayo expressed pity over the outcome of his debut at 135 pounds.

“His corner probably thought it was no use allowing him to go on fighting. Perhaps, they also felt pity for him because of the way he got hit repeatedly,” he added.