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WORLD
bantamweight champion Gerry Peñalosa fulfilled his
promise of defending the country’s turf against foreign
invaders out to test him and fellow top-notch Filipino
fighters.
Proving why he is a cut above his
division, Peñalosa pulverized mandatory challenger
Ratanachai Sor Vorapin inside eight rounds Sunday
morning in the main event of the card entitled
“Invasion: Philippines vs. The World” held at the
Araneta Coliseum.
Fighting like a young boxer hungry for
the big time, the diminutive 35-year-old Peñalosa showed
exceptional skills both on offense and defense, which
elicited exciting chants from the thousands of boxing
fans who woke up early to watch the card that promptly
started at
7:30 am.
Former world super-featherweight
champion Juan Manuel Marquez flew in from Mexico also
Sunday morning to watch the fight and entice vanquisher
Manny Pacquiao to a third fight.
Peñalosa started the typical way by
dissecting Vorapin, who posed major problems the first
time they met nearly eight years ago. The Filipino
champion unleashed a stiff blow to the body that made
the Thai take a deep breath.
The second round saw Vorapin becoming
more active, but the craftiness of Peñalosa proved
superior as the Filipino ended it with a counter left
straight. Peñalosa, however, admitted he got tagged by a
wild left by the southpaw Vorapin.
“I got hurt in that round and that
reminded me to be more patient in the bout,” said
Peñalosa. “I knew by then it will be a tough fight, but
I had enough confidence to come out a winner.”
Like a well-oiled machine, Peñalosa
stepped up his attacks in the third round and threw more
combinations, especially to Vorapin’s body.
GERRY
PEÑALOSA shows age doesn’t matter in his bid for global
stardom as AJ Banal shows being young means he doesn’t
pack enough experience to also win convincingly. And
don’t forget Rey “Boom Boom” Bautista, who doesn’t want
to be left out, Sunday.
--NONOY LACZA
Peñalosa threw more lethal uppercuts by
the fourth round and was still deadly with his punishing
combinations up to that point. A well-timed right hook
staggered Vorapin for the first time, but the tough Thai
seemed to be in excellent shape and survived the round.
Many thought the fifth canto might have
been the turning point as Peñalosa again hurt Vorapin
with several combinations, making the Thai clinch just
below the Filipino’s waist.
“I knew he got hurt but he was still
throwing wild lefts. He knows I’m in control that is why
he probably wants to end it with one good punch,” said
Peñalosa.
Peñalosa tried to play it safe a little
bit by the sixth up to the seventh round, but his
American trainer Freddie Roach, who arrived from Los
Angeles also Sunday morning, instructed his ward to go
for the kill.
“A lot is at stake in this fight and I’m
really impressed with Vorapin’s fighting heart, that is
why it took me a little more time before I finally
finished him off. I knew the end was just a matter of
time,” added Peñalosa.
Admitting that he was again caught in
the sixth round, Peñalosa reminded Vorapin who the day’s
star was and ended the seventh round with an amazing
six-punch combination.
By the eight, a fading Vorapin tried in
vain to land a big one as he went wild with his punches
that eventually gave Peñalosa enough opening to end the
fight.
Midway through the fatal round, Peñalosa
let loose a left uppercut that bended Vorapin’s knees.
Peñalosa turned his back, thinking Vorapin will get the
mandatory eight count. But referee Gino Rodriguez did
not call what the Filipino expected, as neither the
Thai’s gloves nor his knees touched the canvass.
Sensing that Vorapin was ripe for the
kill, Peñalosa, just before unleashing his coup de
grace, raised his hands, then immediately went for the
kill and dropped the Thai with another series of blows.
Vorapin tried to stay up but Peñalosa
unloaded more combinations, and the referee stopped the
fight at 2:31 of the round.
“I hurt my left hand but there’s nothing
serious. I’m happy that I won and I hope our countrymen
who watched the fight here inside the venue and on
television are happy with my performance,” said Peñalosa.
Peñalosa kept his World Boxing
Organization (WBO) bantamweight crown but, more
important, put himself in a better position of
challenging his last conqueror, Daniel Ponce de Leon of
Mexico.
Peñalosa now has a record of 53-6-2 with
36 knockouts, while Vorapin, already a veteran of 82
fights, droped to 72-10, 48 by
KOs. The Filipino
dropped a controversial 12-round decision to Ponce de
Leon March last year in
Las Vegas.
Vorapin, 31, defeated 12 Filipino
fighters since losing to Peñalosa via a sixth-round
technical knockout in November 2000 at the Casino
Filipino Amphitheater in Parañaque. In between, Vorapin
held the WBO bantamweight crown which he defended once
before losing it to Mexican Jhonny Gonzalez via a
seventh-round TKO in October 2005 in Arizona.
Peñalosa, meanwhile, won the title by
stopping Gonzalez in the seventh round with a single
punch to the body in a title bout August last year at
the Arco Arena in Sacramento, California.
Right after his abbreviated victory,
Peñalosa and Roach blurted they wants de Leon.
“We can fight him even tomorrow and
Gerry can still beat him,” said Roach, who was so
impressed with Peñalosa’s performance that he reiterated
his belief the San Carlos City native is the best
technical fighter to come out of the Philippines.
“I honestly believe Gerry won that fight
with Ponce de Leon. I just don’t know how the judges
scored that bout,” said Gomez.
Roach, however, warned that Peñalosa
needs to be more aggressive and throw more punches
should he finally get that rematch with Ponce de Leon.
Another possibility, though, is a
Peñalosa fight with two-division champion Rafael
Marquez, recent loser to super-bantamweight champion
Israel Vazquez and younger brother of Juan Manuel.
“We are honored to be considered by
Gerry as Rafael’s next opponent. We are open to talk
about it, especially now that we are able to see how
Filipinos love the sport. I think it will be a great
matchup,” said Marquez’s Mexican promoter Jaime
Quintana, who was with Juan Manuel Sunday.
Banal
dents foe’s unbeaten run
AJ
“BAZOOKA” BANAL gave Filipino fans several more reasons
to be upbeat about the future of Philippine professional
boxing as he outshone previously unbeaten and highly
rated Caril Herrera of Uruguay.
The southpaw Banal, who just turned 19
last December, showed unbelievable poise and ripeness in
stopping a fellow lefty in Herrera in the fourth round
of their 12-round encounter.
Banal did well in the opening round as
he deftly avoided the on-rushing Herrera, who was
fighting for the first time outside of his native
Uruguay where he is said to be as popular as the
Philippine’s current sensation Manny Pacquiao.
“He likes to slug it out and looked
lethal when he is on the attack. That forced me to move
side to side then pick my punches from there,” said
Banal.
Banal started to hurt Herrera in the
third round with looping left straights and digging body
shots.
“He doesn’t like being hit in the body,
but it was not easy for me to attack his body because
his left straight really can do damage,” said Banal in
the vernacular.
Less than a minute remaining in the
third round, Banal staggered Herrera with a flurry of
shots capped by a right-left combo that floored the
Uruguayan fighter.
Herrera entered the fourth round visibly
hurt and was still willing to slug it out, but Banal’s
power proved too much as the ALA-bred fighter wobbled
his opponent some more. One looping right by Banal
staggered Herrera across the ring that forced Thai
referee Somsak Sirianamt to stop the bout at 1:18 of the
round.
“We won’t hesitate to accept any title
opportunity but AJ is still a baby. He has the skills to
become a world champion for a long time,” said Golden
Boy Promotions vice president Eric Gomez.
The win installed Banal as the No. 1
contender of the International Boxing Federation (IBF)
super-flyweight category. The IBF approved the bout as
an eliminator for the division’s top spot, which
remained vacant before the fight.
Banal may indeed wait for a while as
current IBF 115-lb ruler Dimitri Kirilov of Russia is
slated to defend his crown against mandatory contender
Vic “The Raging Bull” Darchinyan in the coming months.
The winner of the Kirilov-Darchinyan brawl is expected
to stake the crown against another Filipino and one-time
world title challenger Z Gorres who, on February,
settled for a 12-round draw with Darchinyan in an IBF
title eliminator held in Cebu.
Banal upped his record to 17-0, with 14
KOs, while Herrera’s tally dropped to 21-1, 13 by KO.
“Boom
Boom” is back
ONE-TIME
world-title challenger Rey “Boom Boom” Bautista
continued his comeback run by stopping Mexican Genaro
Camargo in the second round.
The 21-year-old Bautista, the defending
World Boxing Organization (WBO) Intercontinental
super-bantamweight champion, dropped Camargo twice in
the opening round, both through right straight.
In between falls, however, Camargo
showed decent grit by staving off Bautista’s incessant
attacks with his own wild but strong counter-punches.
“I got caught with a right straight
right on my jaw so I decided to back off a bit and
recover my senses. I learned a lot of lessons in my
recent loss which I applied for this fight,”said a
seemingly contented Bautista, who was probably pressed
to score a convincing win after the impressive win of
his stablemate at ALA Boxing Gym Banal.
International referee Bruce McTavish
counted the Mexican out 57 seconds in round two.
The win raised Bautista’s record to
25-1, with 18 knockouts. Camargo is now 16-4, 10 KOs.
It was Bautista’s second fight after
absorbing a first-round knockout loss to Ponce de Leon
in a super-bantamweight title fight last August in
Sacramento, California.
Last December, Bautista scored a
12-round decision over another Mexican, Antonio Meza,
also at the Araneta Coliseum.
Other
pinoy winners
PHILIPPINE bantamweight champion Michael Domingo stopped
Thai Thepnimit Sor Chitpattana in the second round with
a powerful overhand right and a right straight follow
up. Domingo is touted by Roach as the country’s next
world champion.
Also, former world-title challenger Bert
Batawang stopped Heri Amol of Indonesia in the seventh
round, while WBO Intercontinental super-bantamweight
champion Ciso “Kid Terrible” Morales stopped a bloodied
Korean Yoo Shin Kim in the fifth round. |
