PE?ALOSA TELLS JUANMA: "BE READY"
By Emmanuel B. Villaruel
PhilBoxing.com
Sun, 22 Feb 2009
Juan Manuel Lopez.
WBO bantamweight champion Gerry "Fearless" Pe?alosa formally sealed a grand showdown with WBO super bantamweight titlist Juan Manuel "Juanma" Lopez after easily punching his way to a lopsided unanimous decision victory over Mexican German Meraz in the main event of the other night's "Battle of the Best Bantamweights" card witnessed by a jampacked crowd at the Cebu Coliseum. The official scores were 100-89, 100-89, and 99-90.
Pe?alosa immediately called on Lopez moments after he got out of the ring, telling his Puerto Rican rival to train hard and be ready for their April 25 battle in San Juan, Puerto Rico.
"Be ready," Pe?alosa quickly replied when asked on his message to Lopez. "It's been my ultimate dream to win three world titles in different weight divisions. If I can achieve that, then maybe it's time for me to consider retirement," added the former WBC super flyweight champion.
In a swansong of a fight for him on Philippine soil, Pe?alosa tried so hard to give the Cebuanos a highly entertaining show.
He failed. Not because he performed below par, but because of an opponent who obviuously came to survive, not to fight. For 10 rounds, Meraz literally turned the squared arena into a dancefloor as he kept on waltzing around, making if difficult for Pe?alosa to land his targets with deadly precision.
The only drama of the rather boring match was when Pe?alosa landed a smashing one-two punch to the paunch that sent Meraz down at the seat of the pants. The rest of the bout was uneventful mainly because of Meraz's refusal to exchange blows with his aggressive foe.
"I'm very sorry to my Cebuano fans. I wanted to give them a good fight, but I can't do it by myself. My opponent had no interest to fight me," said Pe?alosa, who improved his record 54-6 spiked with 36KOs. Meraz slipped to 24-8-2 with 11KOs.
Overall, Pe?alosa was satisfied with his showing, saying that it was a good tune-up for the Lopez bout.
"I haven't fought for a while and I'm happy that I lasted 10 rounds. It was a good preparation for Lopez," said the 36-year-old southpaw from Negros Occidental.
There's no room for Pe?alosa to rest as he heads backs to Baguio City this Wednesday to start his extensive training regimen for Lopez.
Click here to view a list of other articles written by Emmanuel B. Villaruel.
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