PE?ALOSA WANTS ARCE
By Ronnie Nathanielsz
PhilBoxing.com
Tue, 18 Sep 2007
WBO bantamweight champion Gerry Pe?alosa wants to defend his WBO bantamweight title fight against Jorge Arce, the fiery Mexican slugger who won the WBC Latino title with a sixth round TKO over Tomas Rojas before a sell-out crowd at the Hard Rock Hotel & Casino in Las Vegas, yesterday.
Pe?alosa told Viva Sports/Manila Standard Today he would love to defend his title in Manila even though there was more money to be earned fighting in the US. He branded Arce as a good fighter and a ring warrior who never backed off.
Arce was behind on the scorecards of all three judges, two of whom had Rojas a shutout winner at the end of five rounds 50-45 while the third judge had Rojas aheadc 48-47 before Arce nailed his opponent with a left hook to the liver that dropped him and when Arce swarmed all over Rojas referee Joe Cortez stopped the fight at 1:00 minute of the sixth round.
The body shot was similar to the vicious hook to the body with which Pe?alosa dropped WBO bantamweight champion Jhonny Gonzales to win his second world title in the Philippines vs Mexico World Cup in Sacramento,California last August 11. Pe?alosa himself scored a ten round unanimous decision over Rojas on the undercard of the Manny Pacquiao-Oscar Larios showdown presented by ABS-CBN at the Araneta Coliseum on July 2 last year.
Pe?alosa disclosed he is eyeing three more fights before he decides to retire and trainer Freddie Roach believes that if Pe?alosa ?really wants to do it, he can go on for a longer period of time.?
Roach said Pe?alosa was like 42 year old Bernard Hopkins because he is ?very disciplined about his lifestyle and lives very clean. It?s the same with Gerry. He could do this for a long time if he wants to.?
Roach noted that the first he worked with Pe?alosa was for the WBC super flyweight title fight with Japan-based North Korean Masamori Tokuyama which Pe?alosa lost by a controversial decision. But Roach noted that at the time of the Tokuyama fight Pe?alosa ?wasn?t quite the same guy he is now.?
Roach said at present Pe?nalosa is ?very good, has a spark behind him now and enjoys working out and getting in shape.? The trainer extraordinaire said he loves watching Pe?alosa box because ?he is to me the James Toney of the Philippines. He is so calm and cool and nothing fazes him. He is just beautiful to watch.?
Roach said he believes that if he was in Pe?alosa?s corner when he dropped a twelve round decision to WBO super bantamweight champion Daniel Ponce De Leon, he would have won. Roach noted the reason Pe?alosa lost was because he wasn?t aggressive enough in the second half of the fight.
Roach said Ponce De Leon has indicated his willingness to come to the Philippines to fight Pe?alosa in a rematch if the price is right and the giant Philippine broadcast network ABS-CBN is looking at the possibility of staging the fight sometime early next year although there is nothing definite.
Pe?alosa who had expressed his eagerness to exact revenge told Viva Sports/Manila Standard Today he would first like to fight Mexican firebrand Jorge Arce followed by Ponce De Leon and end his career with a fight against Israel Vasquez. Right now Pe?alosa is back in training and waiting for Roach to arrange a fight for him.
Click here to view a list of other articles written by Ronnie Nathanielsz.
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