ROACH: PENALOSA HAS A GOOD SHOT AT LOPEZ
By Dong Secuya
PhilBoxing.com
Sun, 19 Apr 2009
LOS ANGELES -- Three-time trainer of the year Freddie Roach, who will be at Gerry Penalosa's corner on April 25 in Puerto Rico, said the Filipino two-time world champion has a good chance of beating the reigning WBO super bantam champion Juan Manuel Lopez of Puerto Rico.
"When I heard that he (Penalosa) is taking this fight, I agreed with it and believed him," Roach told PhilBoxing.com. "I believed Gerry has a good shot of beating Lopez. Lopez is strong but Gerry is smart so we'll see."
Penalosa (54-6-2 36KOs), who is currently training religiously at Roach's Wildcard Gym in Hollywood and is just 3 pounds over the bantamweight limit on Friday, looked in tip-top condition and is set to depart for Puerto Rico on Monday, April 20 together with his brother-trainer Carl Penalosa, wife Goody and manager Billy Keanne. Roach will follow on Friday a day ahead of Saturday's showdown.
The young Puerto Rican sensation Juan Manuel Lopez (24-0-0 22KOs) is on the verge of superstardom after he beat his last three opponents by first round knockouts including the previously feared knockout artist Daniel Ponce de Leon of Mexico who had previously beaten Penalosa albeit with a highly criticized unanimous decision.
But Roach was not impressed at Lopez's record saying "he has not beaten anyone of note. We'll fight our fight and after the 5th round, he's ours."
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