I wanna say that Chocolatito wins in a good one, even though 115 has never been his ideal weight class. I think you're looking at a case of an all time great overcoming a very good.
As a rule, I tend to see Gerry as the better super-flyweight but he had quite a few definitive stylistic foils. Chocolatito would present one IMO. With his exquisite timing, perfect balance, granite jaw and unerring sense of distance with his ridiculously tight defence, he's pretty bad for the guys who like to set up one or two big shots and offbeat bangers. Guys like Rungvisai, Nana Konadu or - and I know this is almost heresey - Khaosai Galaxy. Once he gets his timing down, and finds the position he wants to be in, he'll beat you to the punch and put his power into the shots he knows will count. I don't actually pick him over Galaxy BTW, but I feel like his style is very good against Galaxy. Dut due to his slow feet, despite absolutely phenomenal positioning, he'll always be a winnable task for negative boxer (see Cho and Tokuyama), but it'd always very tough. I personally thought he was unlucky with both. Penalosa's defence was insane, but none of it was really reflex based. He used his smarts and skills to block, parry, roll and turn with shots, while setting up in front of his man with his high-guard up. It meant his hands were normally busy when the opponent was throwing, combined his lack of urgency (he was very calm, too calm IMO) meant high output fighters tended to out-work him. Obviously Roman is a pressure fighter, who keeps his hands busy and throws a shit tonne of punches. I mean, I'm pretty sure it was about a 1000 going into round nine vs Cuadras, so it's a high number. That obviously isn't good for Penalosa. I think he out-hustles Gerry enroute to winning a clear decision, in an awesome fight with both men showing their skills and having their moments. I hope others like this fight, and appreciate Penalosa's skills.
Superb post, George. I agree with everything word, and I do see Penalosa presenting stylistic problems for Galaxy, albeit in a losing effort.
I'm just glad to hear Penalosa's name again. Always enjoyed watching him fight. And for those who know him from U.S. broadcasts, I'll just point out - that was the tail end of his career and well above his optimal weight class. Anyway, this would undoubtedly have been an amazing fight - Chocolatito vs. Penalosa. Have to go with Gonzalez but I think it's close.
