Every war has its casualties, but in this contest, the winning side may have suffered the worst of them.
For Filipino fight fans, the boxing World Cup was a bittersweet victory. In an event that brought out great feelings of nationalism in both competing countries, the Philippines unseated Mexico in the second event of its kind Saturday night but lost the most heralded competitor on its team in doing so. After jumping out to an early four win lead that sealed them the trophy, the Philippines proceeded to celebrate a comeback win by Gerry Peñalosa over Jhonny Gonzalez before watching in disbelief as undefeated Rey Bautista was annihilated in one round by Mexican captain Daniel Ponce De Leon.
PEÑALOSA PUTS FINISHING TOUCH ON GONZALEZ, MEXICO
Rolling into the final two bouts of the evening, the Philippines already had the boxing World Cup in the bag, but the remaining bouts were, in many ways, of much more importance to the boxing communities of the competitors involved because they featured their most proud fighters. Aging Filipino challenger Gerry Peñalosa, coming off what many believed to be a robbery in his loss to Daniel Ponce De Leon, was looking for retribution as he dropped back down in weight to challenge Mexico’s WBO Bantamweight Champion Jhonny Gonzalez.
Going into the fight, there was a great deal of concern about Gonzalez having to drain himself to make the bantamweight limit while Peñalosa was expected to perform even better than he did in his junior featherweight effort against Ponce De Leon. Instead, Gonzalez controlled the bout and even outfought Peñalosa for six rounds before getting caught by a lethal liver shot that kept him down, suffering a heartbreaking loss while Peñalosa got the knockout he promised his fans, regardless of how the rest of the fight progressed, and delivered for his country.
Peñalosa put the pressure on a rather cautious Gonzalez in round one until the fighters finally broke into swinging for the fences in the final seconds. The hard hitting Peñalosa got the best of the exchange, briefly knocking Gonzalez off balance with a right hook. A similar exchange to end the second round seemed to go in Gonzalez’ favor. In round 3, both fighters were more willing to trade punches to the delight of the crowd. From there, however, Gonzalez adjusted accordingly and took over the fight.
Boxing more effectively and staying on top of the challenger with some combinations, Gonzalez slowly began to reduce Peñalosa into a plodding puncher over the next three rounds and appeared to be on his way to an easier than expected decision. Still, Peñalosa remained very much the puncher as he occasionally got a good shot in that knocked the champion back and warned Gonzalez not to become overambitious. When Gonzalez fought back and managed to outpunch Peñalosa at the end of round 5 and throughout much of a more exciting round 6, things started to look a little hopeless for the Filipino.
The trend continued into round 7 as Gonzalez dominated until Peñalosa nailed him with a left hand square on the liver. Trying to shake it off, Gonzalez hopped on his toes but soon experienced a delayed reaction, turning away and collapsing onto his hands and knees in the corner. Cringing in agony, Gonzalez tried to get up but had to stop to grab the ropes and bow his head. He never made it to his feet and was counted out by Referee Pat Russell. The new champion Peñalosa collapsed on the canvas as well, but his emotions were the result of a spectacular come-from-behind knockout that saved him the fight.
At 35 years of age, Peñalosa, going into the fight, expressed intentions of only fighting a few more bouts before calling it a career. Nobody would blame him if he walked away after upending Gonzalez in his greatest performance. Gonzalez, on the other hand, already declared the bout with Peñalosa his last at the bantamweight limit, but a rematch would be quite appealing should he find a way to make weight. Again, nobody could blame him if he moved up to the junior featherweight division permanently where a rematch with Peñalosa also could take place, especially given the way Peñalosa looked against Ponce De Leon. Speaking of the WBO Junior Featherweight Champion, a rematch with Ponce De Leon could prove especially interesting in light of their spectacular knockout wins that highlighted this terrific boxing affair. Peñalosa, after all, has the distinction of being one of only four men to go the distance with Ponce De Leon if not one of only two men to appear to defeat him.
PONCE DE LEON DENIES FILIPINO SWEEP IN BATTERING BAUTISTA
It’s amazing how one round can change everything.
While the night’s main event was irrelevant in determining the World Cup’s winner, pride was still on the line. With his country down five-to-nothing heading into the final bout of the evening, Daniel Ponce De Leon hoped to save Mexico face as he defended his WBO Junior Featherweight Championship against undefeated 21-year-old Filipino prospect Rey “Boom Boom†Bautista. As it turns out, the statement he made put a bigger exclamation point on the event than anything preceding it and nearly made the Philippines’ World Cup victory an afterthought.
With 54 wins, 45 knockouts and only one loss between them, Ponce De Leon and Bautista looked to be the most explosive affair on the card, perhaps one worthy of living up to the great wars between their compatriots Erik Morales and Manny Pacquiao. The fight turned out to be entertaining but short lived as the physically bigger, more experienced champion ran right over his unsuspecting challenger, shocking the fans of both nations and ruining an otherwise momentous cause for celebration in the Filipino community.
A minute into the fight, the southpaw Ponce De Leon began winging left hands that drove Bautista back. One such left hand caught Bautista ducking and buckled the young challenger’s knees. Bautista wisely held on, but his vulnerability had been revealed, and Ponce De Leon knew he could throw caution to the wind and go for the kill. With the crowd chanting, “Mexico†in confidence for the first time all evening, Ponce De Leon landed a picture perfect jab-straight left hand combination to the face of Bautista. Moments later, the Sacramento fight fans saw yet another delayed reaction as Bautista wobbled back before dipping forward and staggering sideways into the ropes where he went down on a glove and a knee.
A valiant Bautista rose but had to stop to lean back into the ropes, wincing and showing the signs of a fighter in pain, and, in with a heavy handed fighter like Ponce De Leon, a great deal of trouble. As the woozy challenger staggered away from the ropes on unsteady legs, Referee Jon Schorle could have stopped the fight then and there but awarded the showing of heart by giving Bautista a chance to stay undefeated. Though he received more recovery time than he should have gotten from Schorle, Bautista couldn’t find his legs. Ponce De Leon pounced back on the challenger with more straight left hands that wobbled Bautista and sent him crashing onto his hands and knees beside the ropes. This time, Schorle had seen enough and waved the fight off, giving Ponce De Leon a scintillating victory and his tenth first round knockout.
Bautista continued to display a great deal of heart as he rose immediately following the knockdown to find the bout had been stopped. Moments later, he bowed his head and allowed the loss to sink in while across the ring, Ponce De Leon was paraded about in celebration of his big win, truly a shocking outcome given the fact that Bautista had long been dubbed the next Pacquiao. Pacquiao, of course, suffered some early setbacks himself but nothing as devastating as what Bautista experienced at the hands of Ponce De Leon.
It was a cold taste of reality for the young Filipino slugger and a fantastic coming out party for Ponce De Leon, who helped Mexican fight fans forget the lost World Cup for the moment.
