?FEARLESS? PENALOSA UNFAZED BY JUANMA
By Dr. Allan Recto
PhilBoxing.com
Sat, 14 Mar 2009
Laredo, Texas (03/13/09) - Yesterday at the Braulio Castillo Theater in Bayamon, Puerto Rico, a press conference was held to announce the upcoming WBO Super bantamweight Championship fight between Filipino challenger Gerry ?Fearless? Penalosa (54-6-2) 36 KO?s against younger, undefeated KO artist Juan Manuel Lopez (24-0-0) 22 KO?s.
According to Osman Perez Mendoza of El Nuevo Dia Newspaper of Puerto Rico, Lopez? Promoter Ivan Rivera was quoted saying,? Penalosa has great experience and he?s been trained by Freddie Roach, the same one that trains Manny Pacquiao; that?s why I told ?JuanMa? he needs to be really prepared.?
Juan Manuel Lopez stated at the press con, ?He fought against Daniel Ponce de Leon and lost. I fought with him (Ponce de Leon) and I knocked him out in the first round. I don?t need foreign trainers?we have the best of boxing here in Puerto Rico, the best trainers, including mine (Orlando Pi?eiro), who I think is the best in the world.?
?JuanMa? Lopez added, ?He gets many punches. He said that he?s going to fight me inside, but that?s nothing new, because he always fights inside. He gets forward and open so it?s easy to connect him with the straight punch or the hook, that are my best, hard punches,? said Lopez, assuring that he has been training with left hander McJoe Arroyo and Jonathan Gonzalez.
?I?m going to give him (Penalosa) his first knock out of his career,? Lopez added.
?This is a great test for Juan Manuel, who has shown great power as a champion, but who now will be facing an experienced fighter such as Gerry Pe?alosa and for that he will have to work very hard to assure a victory in front of his people of Puerto Rico who will be standing behind him all the time,? said Hall of Fame Promoter Bob Arum, from Top Rank, in a press release.
The challenger Penalosa, also a southpaw, revealed, ?His style is going to make me look good. His hook (Lopez) is easy to read,? said Penalosa calmly, who admitted the quality of his opponents were better. ?He is the best in the division, and I want to fight the best,? Penalosa added.
Today, this writer caught up with Gerry Penalosa who was on his way to an Open Public workout in Puerto Rico. Penalosa stated that he is unfazed by the pronouncement of the Juan Manuel Lopez. ?This will be a great fight?It won?t go the distance. Every round, each one will go for a knock out.? He added that Juan Manuel Lopez was very popular in Puerto Rico and that there were a few Filipinos present who showed their support to him (Penalosa). He said, ?The weather here is like in the Philippines?the promoters are treating us very well?My brother Jonathan and my manager Billy Keane accompanied me here.? Penalosa said he passed by the Ruben Rodriguez Coliseum in Bayamon, Puerto Rico yesterday where the fight will held on Saturday, April 25 shown LIVE on HBO?s Boxing After Dark.? He (Penalosa) said he has not been inside the venue yet.
Click here to view a list of other articles written by Dr. Allan Recto.
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