<TABLE style="BORDER-RIGHT: #000000 1px solid; BORDER-TOP: #000000 1px solid; BORDER-LEFT: #000000 1px solid; BORDER-BOTTOM: #000000 1px solid; BACKGROUND-COLOR: #ffffee" cellPadding=4 width=423><TBODY><TR><TD> WBO world bantamweight champion Gerry Penalosa Gerry Penalosa (54-6-2, 36 KOs)intensely hits the mits while working out San Juan, Puerto Rico on Friday. “I’m training extremely hard as I know I’ll have a strong fighter in Juan Manuel Lopez in front of me come April 25th.†said Lopez. Penalosa will immediately head to California to train with Freddie Roach in Hollywood at the Wildcard Gym. The event titled “Champion vs. Champion†will be promoted by Top Rank Inc. & PR Best Boxing (Ivan & Peter Rivera) and televised on HBO </TD></TR></TBODY></TABLE> This will be a great fight! Lots of fireworks!:bears: Peñalosa has never been stopped in the past and Juanma is promising to inflict the first KO defeat to the philipino warrior. Peñalosa has impressed the press at his work-outs in San Juan. Some journalists has even compared his level of training intensity to those of Felix Trinidad.
I don't know. Gerry is 35 now going up against perhaps the best young champion in boxing today. It is very hard to analyze this as Lopezs' early KO wins can work against him if Gerry makes it out of the first few rounds, as I have never seen Lopez in a real tough fight yet. For example: the last guy he fought, little Medina never even landed a punch, and was the most intimidated fighter in a world title fight I have seen this side of Micahel Spinks when he was destroyed by Tyson. Penalosa is battle tested and will in no way be awed or intimidated by this kid, and as we saw recently, battle tested veterans such as Juan Manuel Lopez have a way of pulling out tough fights against younger champions. If Gerry takes the kid into deep waters he has a shot here, as Lopezs' stamina will be tested, and we will see if he is a real champion, but Lopez can get him out early. I will definitely be watching this one.
Penalosa has all the tools to deal with a young inexperienced Lopez. Plus, he hasn't shown his age much. He still can move around the ring for 12 full rounds. Lopez' only chance is to lure Gerry into some exchanges and take him out.
If you've seen Penalosa, you should know that he is one crafty SOB, not easy to outbox. The difference here should be Juanma's Power, not his boxing skills.
I'll be rooting for juanma Lopez (of course), but this is exactly the kind of test he needs to prove just how good he is. It will be a great fight regardless who wins. Lopez has excellent boxing skills, but his stamina is still a question mark. It will be interesting to see how he performs against a crafty veteran like Peñalosa.
This will be dangerous for Juanma for sure. But he's in his prime and Penalosa is up there in age. Juanma is faster and definitely more powerful. I think he's the goods. And if he is, he should either stop Penalosa late or win via UD.
True! I'm a big Juanma fan but I want to see his opponent actually last more than 1 round. I want to see Juanma tested.
Often these guys get used to early knockouts and if an opponent lasts til late in the fight, it could be dangerous. We've seen it in fights like Benn-McClellan and Ali-Foreman. I kinda doubt Penalosa will do this but it would be interesting to see what happens if JuanMa was extended to the later rounds after so many early nights.
Penalosa's the Type of SEASONED Vet that All Young Fighters MUST Face, but This is Also a NO-WIN Situation for JuanMa, Honestly...If he Beats the Shit Out of Penalosa, Everybody will Chalk it Up to Penalosa Being OLD & if JuanMa STRUGGLES w/or LOSES to Penalosa, Everybody will Say he's "Overrated"... REED:hammert:
I agree, I don't know why Juanma was so keen to face Penalosa instead of Caballero or some other title holder.
