Apr 02 2008
PEÑALOSA AIMS TO KNOCK VORAPIN OUT AGAIN
MANILA — He’s beaten him before and so Gerry Peñalosa doesn’t see any reason why he can’t do the same thing again to Thai Sor Vorapin. “Concentrated tayo kay Vorapin. Hindi ko talaga siya bibigyan ng tsansa,” said Peñalosa of the same opponent he knocked out inside six rounds of their 12-round fight eight years ago.
The two will meet again this Sunday at the Araneta Coliseum with Peñalosa’s World Boxing Organization (WBO) bantamweight title at stake. Peñalosa, 35, of San Carlos City Negros Occidental, is defending for the first time the same title he won over Jhonny Gonzales in Sacramento, USA last year as part of the World Cup of Boxing between the Philippines and Mexico.
The two-time world champion hopes to get past Vorapin as he bids for lucrative fights in the future against reigning WBO super-bantamweight king Daniel Ponce de Leon and former world champion Rafael Marquez.
“Kung makakuha ng pagkakataon, gagawin natin yun (knockout),” said Peñalosa in the weekly PSA Forum at the Shakey’s U.N. Avenue branch. “Siyempre mahirap ding magsalita dahil alam ko ensayado siya (Vorapin) at gusto ring manalo.”
Cebu-based promoter Sammy Gello-ani, upcoming boxer Ciso Morales and Golden Boy Promotions public relations director Ramiro Gonzales also graced the forum sponsored by Shakey’s, the Philippine Amusements and Gaming Corporation (PAGCOR), Accel, Brickroad gym and Aspen spa. Both Gello-ani and Ramiro said the fight serves as a perfect stepping stone for Penalosa in his attempt to have another shot against the mean-punching de Leon.
“This fight is very, very important for him (Peñalosa) since there’s a lot of option waiting for him,” said Gonzales of the unsinkable Filipino ring hero, whom he describes as a boxer with “power, knows how to fight and is very intelligent inside the ring.”
Gello-ani said aside from Morales, rising local boxers AJ Banal and Ray `Boom Boom’ Bautista are also set to see action as part of the undercard that also features boxers from Uruguay, Mexico, Korea and Indonesia.
Vorapin and the rest of the foreign fighters are arriving in the country today. The formal press conference for the boxing card is set tomorrow at the Mandarin suite of the Gateway Mall at the Araneta Center in Cubao.
The official weigh-in is scheduled on Saturday morning, according to Gello-ani.
Top photo: From left, Golden Boy PR director Ramiro Gonzales, Gerry Peñalosa and promoter Sammy Gello-ani face the media at yesterday’s Philippine Sportwriters’ Association (PSA) weekly forum in Manila.
Source: PhilBoxing.com
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