Mark Magsayo and
Michael Magnesi will meet in a WBC junior lightweight title eliminator on Oct. 29, the sanctioning body has announced.
The bout is set to take place in Magsayo’s native land of the Philippines as the country celebrates the 50th anniversary of the “Thrilla in Manila” trilogy fight between Muhammad Ali and Joe Frazier.
The Magsayo-Magnesi winner will become the mandatory challenger to current champion O’Shaquie Foster,
who is set to face Stephen Fulton on Oct. 25 in Las Vegas.
The former WBC featherweight champion Magsayo (28-2, 18 KOs) has been trending toward the title opportunity, and further secured his standing in July by scoring a
10-round unanimous decision win against Jorge Mata.
Magsayo has notched four consecutive wins after losing back-to-back fights against Rey Vargas in 2022 and Brandon Figueroa in 2023. Magsayo, a 30-year-old from Bohol now based in Los Angeles and training out of Wild Card, landed a career-best win against Gary Allen Russell Jr. in 2022 to win the title, but he failed to defend it.
The 30-year-old Magnesi (25-2, 13 KOs) has primarily fought in Mexico throughout his 10-year career. Magnesi has had an uneven 4-2 ride in his last six fights featuring two wins against unbeatens as well as a knockout loss against
Masanori Rikiishi in March 2024 and a split decision defeat to
Anthony Cacace in 2022.
Magnesi’s loss against Rikiishi came with less than 30 seconds remaining in the 12th round while leading on all of the scorecards.
The WBC has Magsayo ranked No. 1 and Magnesi rated No. 2, but neither is in
The Ring’s top 10 rankings.
Manouk Akopyan is The Ring’s lead writer. Follow him on X and Instagram: @ManoukAkopyan.