Mark Magsayo overcame adversity in dramatic fashion Saturday night.
The 27-year-old featherweight contender survived a damaging body attack by Julio Ceja to stop the capable Mexican in the 10th-round of a scheduled 12-round bout on the Manny Pacquiao-Yordenis Ugas card in Las Vegas.
Magsayo (23-0, 16 KOs) got off to a strong start, putting Ceja (32-5-1, 28 KOs) down with a left hook early in the opening round.
However, Ceja, experienced at the highest level, bounced back to push Magsayo to his limits. Ceja’s consistent body blows were so painful that Magsayo was forced to take a knee in Round 5, at which point his perfect record seemed to be in serious jeopardy.
Magsayo responded by boxing after that, moving, jabbing, scoring with power punches when he could as Ceja pursued him.
Then, about 30 seconds into Round 10, Magsayo landed a perfect straight right that hurt Ceja and followed with a short right as Ceja was beginning to fall.
There was no reason to count because Ceja was unconscious when he hit the canvas. The official time of the stoppage was 50 seconds of the 10th round.
The fight was billed as a WBC title eliminator.