PE?ALOSA LOSES IN GALLANT EFFORT
By Ronnie Nathanielsz
PhilBoxing.com
Sun, 18 Mar 2007
Former WBC super flyweight champion Gerry Pe?alosa went up two divisions to fight the bigger and stronger WBO super bantamweight champion Daniel Ponce De Leon but after a gallant effort lost a unanimous twelve round decision at the Mandalay Bay Resort Hotel & Casino in Las Vegas, yesterday.
However, the lopsided scorecards of judges Chuck Giampa, Dave Moretti and Nelson Vazquez lived up to the growing notoriety of the WBO as well as the Nevada State Athletic Commission which chooses the judges for fights in Las Vegas. When the decision was announced the huge audience watching the fight “live” in the ABS-CBN studios in the telecast hosted by Korina Sanchez let out a collective boo and cries of disbelief.
In an absolutely unbelievable assessment, judge Dave Moretti had Ponce De Leon winning every round for a 120-108 shutout while Chuck Giampa who last February 25 conspired with Raul Caiz Jr and referee Samuel Viruet to rob Z ”The Dream” Gorres of the WBO super flyweight title against Fernando Montiel had Ponce De Leon the winner 119-109 which was the same scorecard turned in by Nelson Vazquez.
WBC founding secretary general Rudy Salud who for some years managed Pe?alosa said we could all be proud of Penaloda’s performance saying “he surpassed all his past performances in title fights against In Joo Cho and Masamori Tokuyama and surprised all of us with the way he fought.” Salud blamed what he termed “a ridiculous rule adopted a few years ago that mandates judges to have a winner in every round even if it should be a draw. As a result the many close rounds were scored for the champion because he threw more punches.”
Salud said Pe?alosa simply couldn’t cope with the reach, height and power advantage of Ponce De Leon but hoped that he would be given a crack at the bantamweight title of any of the world organizations because he believed Penalosa still had it in him to become a world champion.
While Pe?alosa, a 21-1 underdog according to his wife Goody, scored with effective and crisp combinations the champion hardly stopped throwing punches except in the last three rounds after he hurt his left hand and decided to stay out of Pe?alosa’s range which frustrated the 34 year old southpaw . After the fight Ponce De Leon wore shades to cover his bruises and indicated he was ready to give Penalosa a rematch.
Pe?alosa demonstrated his superior skills in blocking or avoiding many of Ponce De Leon’s punches but the punch stats eventually proved decisive with the champion throwing more than 100 punches per round to outwork Penalosa by a landslide. Total punches thrown were 1399 to 481 in Ponce De Leon’s favor.
Pe?alosa caught Ponce De Leon with a hard right to the side of the head in round two but after the champion was all over Pe?alosa in the fourth round the game challenger responded to the pleadings of cornerman Justin Fortune to throw more combinations and took the fifth round with some well-timed shots. A left flush on the face of Ponce De Leon appeared to give Penalosa the edge in round seven and while Ponce De Leon threw lots of punches in the eighth Penalosa rocked him with a solid right towards the end of the round.
Going into the final round Fortune who was substituting for celebrated trainer Freddie Roach who was busy preparing Oscar De La Hoya for his blockbuster showdown with Floyd Mayweather on May 5 told Pe?alosa he had to go for a knockout but sensing he had the fight won the champion continued to dance out of trouble to retain his title and improve his record to 33-1 with 28 KO’s. Pe?alosa dropped to 51-6-2 with 35 KO’s.
Click here to view a list of other articles written by Ronnie Nathanielsz.
Recent PhilBoxing.com In-House articles:
Crawford Not the First Lightweight to Distinguish Himself at Super Middleweight
By Teodoro Medina Reynoso, Tue, 16 Sep 2025SAMBO Pilipinas is Southern NSA of the Year 2025
By Lito delos Reyes, Tue, 16 Sep 2025Kingsley “The Black Lion” Ibeh To headline historic “Legacy Nights” Inaugural Pro Boxing event in El Salvador
Tue, 16 Sep 2025Smarts over power
By Joaquin Henson, Tue, 16 Sep 2025HALL OF FAME FLIES FLAGS AT HALF-STAFF FOR TWO-DIVISION CHAMPION RICKY HATTON
Tue, 16 Sep 2025Kazakhstan tops the medal table at the inaugural World Boxing Championships 2025 thanks to victory in the final bout of the competition
Tue, 16 Sep 2025THRILLA IN MANILA GOLDEN ANNIVERSARY 13: JOE FRAZIER’S HUMBLE BEGINNINGS AS AN AMATEUR FIGHTER
By Maloney L. Samaco, Mon, 15 Sep 2025A New King, A New Challenger: Turki Alalshikh Proposes Crawford-Benavidez While Canelo Alvarez Faces Defeat with Humility
By Dong Secuya, Mon, 15 Sep 2025Highly Questionable Title Eliminator
By Teodoro Medina Reynoso, Mon, 15 Sep 2025Yoseline Perez Earns Silver Medal at Inaugural World Boxing Championships
Mon, 15 Sep 202521-year-old Filipino wins at Germany rapid chess tournament
By Marlon Bernardino, Mon, 15 Sep 2025Nagoya Nightmare: Naoya Inoue Notches One-Sided Decision over Murodjon Akhmadaliev
Mon, 15 Sep 2025Inoue’s Philippine Connection: Which Pinoy Super Bantamweight Could Challenge “The Monster?”
By Carlos Costa, Mon, 15 Sep 2025Yoseline Perez Advances to the Finals at the World Boxing Championships Perez Set to Face Chinese Taipei’s Hsiao-Wen Huang for 54-Kilogram World Title
Mon, 15 Sep 2025Canelo Gets Outboxed, Loses Undisputed Title to Crawford
By Carlos Costa, Sun, 14 Sep 2025