Back in April, Gerry Penalosa was conclusively defeated by Juan Manuel Lopez in an attempt to win the Puerto Rican’s WBO super bantamweight title. After nine, mostly one-sided rounds, his trainer, Freddie Roach had seen enough. And if it were up to Roach, it would have been the last time Penalosa would have ever fought professionally, in a career that spans 63 fights and began in 1989.
But alas, Penalosa faces Eric Morel this Saturday night at the Las Vegas Hilton for the interim WBO bantamweight title as part of Top Rank’s “Latin Fury/Pinoy Power” pay-per-view card.
"I felt it was the right time for him [to retire]," Roach said this past Saturday afternoon from his Wild Card Boxing Club in Hollywood. "Gerry pleaded with me. I gave him one more chance. He said he was going back down to his weight class where he belongs. The Morel fight was put together, I said, ’OK, Gerry, you fight Morel, he’s not a big puncher. If you can beat him, get you a title fight, then that’s it. Win, lose or draw, we’re going to call it a day.’ He said OK."
But Penalosa, 54-7-2 (36), says that retiring after the loss to “JuanMa” never entered his mind. "No, no, no. I love this sport so much," he said after his workout at the Wild Card on Saturday. "I know I’m the king of 118, at bantamweight, so I had to go back. Nobody can beat me at this weight."
What was clearly evident was that he certainly wasn’t going to beat Lopez, who was simply too young, fresh, talented, and ultimately, too big and strong for the Filipino.
"Yeah, he was just too big. The thing is, he was too big for me. 122 is not my weight," he agreed. Penalosa landed some clean counter right hooks, but he simply couldn’t shake the gifted Lopez. "I hit him hard but I don’t think he felt it. So I told myself, ’Oh, he’s too big for me. 122 is not my weight.’"
Roach says, "Gerry’s really not a ’22-pounder and never was.. Size really was the difference in that fight. He just couldn’t hurt that guy and he did hit him some good shots and Gerry’s a pretty good puncher. He was just way too big for him by fight time." After the ninth frame, Roach threw in the towel. He was hopelessly behind on all three scorecards and he didn’t possess the pop to turn the tide, there really was no good reason to continue.
"Personally, I wanted to fight," said Penalosa. "I was waiting for the exact time but I trust Freddie so much. When Freddie said no in the seventh round, I said, ’Gimme one more round, coach.’ In the ninth round, he said, ’Gerry, I’m stopping the fight.’ I told him I respect whatever decision you make.’"
As you see Penalosa work mitts with Roach and hit the heavy bag, you see the consummate, skilled professional he is. Before there was a Manny Pacquiao, there was Penalosa.
"He’s very smart, very clever," Roach says of his old pro. "I asked Manny the other day, ’Who’s a better boxer, you or Gerry?’ He said Gerry is. Gerry is the best boxer from the Philippines, technique-wise. But he’s getting up there in age."
He still looks very good as he does his floor work, but then, everyone looks pretty good when facing air. "I saw him get shook in sparring, one day," said Roach, of a recent session with the Cuban phenom, Guillermo Rigondeaux. "I was a little concerned because I don’t think he’s quite taking the shots he used to. But Rigondeaux can punch, though."
The 37-year old southpaw stylist says he still has the same zeal for the sport he did as a younger practitioner of the sport.
"Yeah, I really love this sport. I love it. Being in the gym, I love it. This is my passion," said Penalosa, who unlike his older brother, will not get into the business of training fighters. "No, I don’t think I have the patience," he says, laughing.
Helping matters in this upcoming fight is that Morel, himself, is 34 years old and not exactly the most aggressive fighter you’ll ever see.
"I don’t think he comes forward. I think he just runs, he’s not that good, compared to Lopez or the one that I fought before [German Meraz]. No way, no way," is Penalosa’s assessment of Morel, 41-2 (21). Old legs are much more effective coming forward than backing up, which may occur against Morel. "I think so, I think that’s what Freddie wants me to do.. That’s what I want to do," he says of being aggressive. "I don’t know if he will run that much. I don’t think people want to see a boring fight. So I expect him to come forward so it’s a good fight."
But regardless, if the man in his corner does not like what he sees on Saturday, he will not hesitate to have a quick hook.
"100-percent," said Roach, "because I won’t let him get hurt and if I don’t see what I want to see out there happening, I will pull him out. Gerry respects me enough that he won’t go somewhere else, he will retire."
THE EVENT
Tickets for the March 13th bout between Manny Pacquiao and Joshua Clottey at Dallas Cowboys Stadium are moving well.
According to Bob Arum, "about 30 (thousand tickets) and change," have been sold. He is optimistic that all 45,000 tickets will be sold and, "Certainly over 40,000."
There could be a significant change on that show’s undercard. There is a strong possibility that the return of Antonio Margarito will be pushed back to May 8th.
"Because California has sent a letter to Texas, etc.," explained Arum on Monday afternoon. "It got complicated and we have no time for complication because the fight we’re promoting is Clottey and Pacquiao. So instead we’re going to do an interim lightweight championship [fight] between Humberto Soto and David Diaz."
SUMMER TIME
Arum is hoping to stage a blockbuster summer tripleheader.
"Yuriorkis Gamboa is fighting in Germany on March 27th and then he’s going to fight in the United States on HBO, probably in July against Celestino Caballero. We’d do split sites (with Juan Manuel Lopez) and if everything’s OK, we’d put Valero on that card with a top 140-pound guy."
(In regard to Valero, there is mutual interest in a bout that would pit him with WBO champion, Tim Bradley. Gary Shaw told Maxboxing on Monday that his goal is to make Bradley-Valero for the first Saturday of June on Showtime. Arum told me he’d have no problems matching Valero with “The Desert Storm.” I’ll have a full-length feature on that issue tomorrow.)
WHO DAT FLURRIES
Mercito Gesta, a promising young Filipino fighter I saw last week at the gym, gets back to work on Feb. 25th at the Four Points Sheraton in San Diego. Gesta, is a lightweight with a mark of 16-0-1...I understand that there is quite the bidding war for amateur standout Frankie Gomez, who’s a real aggressive, two-fisted banger...I was told that Telefutura is considering getting back into the boxing business, which would be great. But Univision/Telefutura has lingering money issues to contend with...What did Arum think of Brandon Rios this past weekend? "I thought he was spectacular. I was pleasantly surprised. He fought a real guy and he made it look easy."...Hey, who dat say was going to beat those Saints? Well, I did, actually, as I tabbed the Colts to win the Super Bowl. But Sean Payton was brilliant on the sideline. While the Colts seemingly played not to lose, Payton was more than willing to roll the dice and let it rip. (Jay Johns, that’s for you!!!)...I can be reached at k9kim@yahoo.com... twitter.com/stevemaxboxing…
Source: secondsout.com
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