Hometown fighter Jonny “Magic” Mansour punched and danced his way to victory Saturday
night in his professional boxing debut at Pechanga Arena.
Mansour, from La Mesa, won a unanimous decision in a four-round, lightweight bout against Bosnian Anel Dudo, who fell to 3-6 with 1 KO.
“I’m excited,” said Mansour, after the fight. “This is the first of many.”
Mansour, 23, has been training as a boxer since he was 8 years old and that work paid off in a
confident, aggressive performance.
Wearing white and gold trunks, he pressed the action from the first round, throwing
combinations and moving forward, pushing Dudo against the ropes.
The second round brought more of the same and in round three he kept moving and sticking,
dodging Dudo’s attacks.
By round four, he was well on his way to victory, with hometown fans chanting his name.
Mansour has taken great pride in his Iraqi heritage and dozens of fans in the arena wore white T-shirts adorned with his name.
“The fans were deep,” he said. “The Chaldean community, the Middle Eastern support is very
heavy.”
For Mansour, the fight capped a whirlwind week that saw him stage a public workout in El Cajon and a talk for about two dozen young boys and girls who were training at the CYAC
Gym in National City.
As someone who started training as a young boy, Mansour encouraged the youth to keep at it, saying many people told him to give up.
On Saturday night, he proved those doubters wrong.
“I just want to do more inside that ring,” he said. “I’m ready to get back inside that gym next
week.”
Mansour’s fight was on the undercard of an evening that includes a championship bout between Emanuel Navarrete and Denys Berincyk and a a 12-round welterweight clash between unbeatens – San Diegan Giovani Santillan (30-0, 17 KOs) and Brian Norman (25-0, 19 KOs).