THE CURIOUS CASE OF GERONIMO PE?ALOSA
By Manny Piñol
PhilBoxing.com
Tue, 03 Feb 2009
Quizzical eyebrows were raised when world bantamweight champion Gerry Pe?alosa, who at 36 is best described as a battle-scarred ring warrior, decided to accept the offer to challenge Puerto Rican sensation Juan Manuel Lopez for the latter's World Boxing Organization (WBO) super bantamweight title on April 24.
For those who understand boxing, there is a lot of reasons to be worried for Gerry.
Age is first. At 25, Juanma Lopez is 11 years younger than Gerry. In fact, when Pe?alosa won his first professional fight against Fidel Jubay with a 5th round knockout on May 20, 1989, the Puerto Rican champion was just a 6-year-old kid perhaps still trying to make up his mind on what he would be when he grew up.
Heft would be second. Lopez is a natural junior featherweight fighting in the 122-lb. category ever since he turned professional in 2005. Pe?alosa at best is a natural bantamweight who started as a flyweight and won his first world boxing title as a junior bantamweight.
Then, there is the height and the reach factors. Juanma, according to boxrec.com stands 5' 7" with a reach of 173 centimeters while Gerry only stands about 5' 5" with a shorter reach of 165 cm.
And Lopez's fight record? A frightening 24 wins in 24 professional fights with 22 of these fights ending by knockout.
Pe?alosa, on the other hand, has lost 6 times in 61 fights of a professional boxing career that spans almost two decades. Although he has never been knocked out, Gerry's knockout win percentage is a low 59.02%.
Experience is definitely on Gerry's side but this could cut both ways. Long years in the ring means a lot of punches thrown and received. It could also mean a wiser fighter who knows how to handle young boys like Lopez.
But still, the odds are stacked up against Gerry Pe?alosa. Any which way one looks at the statistics, there is simply no way the Filipino bantamweight champion could win over the Puerto Rican junior featherweight titlist.
Gerry, however, looks at the fight from a different perspective.
"I would not have taken this fight if I felt I couldn't win it," Gerry told me when we met in Cebu City last Saturday.
His belief is that Juan Manuel Lopez is "just a media hyped fighter who has not met known fighters."
Gerry is correct indeed. The only boxer of reputation who fought Lopez is Daniel Ponce de Leon, whom he knocked out in Round 1. The problem is Pe?alosa lost to Ponce de Leon by decision.
The second factor? "His fighting style is tailored for me," said Gerry, referring to Juan Manuel Lopez's style of rushing in and unleashing powerful punches.
In this area, I would tend to agree with Gerry. I have seen this boy fight since he was a young amateur boxer and I say he is one of the best counterpunchers in the business.
Gifted with eagle eyes that could almost see all incoming punches, Gerry works well when his opponent initiates the action.
And Pe?alosa is preparing hard for this monumental fight against Lopez. He is now holed up in Baguio City where he is training with flyweight champion Nonito Donaire Jr. for his 10-round tune up bout against Mexico's German "Panteonero" Meraz on Feb. 21 in Cebu City.
He knows how important the fight against Lopez is. "If I lose, I will retire. If I win, I will be opening the door for the bigger fights against big name bantamweights and junior featherweights including Israel Vasquez," Gerry said.
In spite of his intense desire to win and all other things taken into consideration, I would still put Gerry a heavy underdog against Lopez. Age, heft, height, reach and power are factors which will undeniably work against the Filipino champion.
Style and experience? Well, they could be the intangibles which may yet tilt the balance in favor of the 36-year-old Filipino.
Who knows? Remember Tyson vs. Douglas? Hopkins vs. Pavlik? Margarito vs. Mosley?
As in the incredible fiction movie "The Curious Case of Benjamin Button," Geronimo Pe?alosa may yet prove that sometimes the outcome of perceived boxing mismatches could be stranger than fiction.
Click here to view a list of other articles written by Manny Piñol.
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