The World Cup of Boxing between the Philippines and Mexico will happen on August 11, 2007 in Sacramento, California, USA. There will be two world championship bouts on this fight card. Rey “Boom Boom” Bautista (23-0, 17 KOs) will fight WBO super bantamweight champion Daniel Ponce de Leon (31-1, 28 KOs). Gerry Penalosa (51-6-2, 34 KOs) will fight WBO bantamweight champion Jhonny Gonzales (34-5, 29 KOs). Bert Batawang (50-6, 34 KOs) will fight Francisco Rosas (19-5-1, 12 KOs) in an IBF light flyweight title eliminator. Michael Domingo (31-14-2, 12 KOs) will fight Miguel Roman (21-0, 15 KOs). Z “The Dream” Gorres (26-2-1, 14 KOs) will fight Gerson Guerrero (33-7, 25 KOs). Unbeaten young Filipino boxing sensation A.J. “Bazooka” Banal (13-0-1, 10 KOs) will get the toughest test of his career when he faces former WBC light flyweight champion Eric Ortiz.
Bautista said that this is the fight that he and his family have been waiting for. “This is one opportunity I had been dreaming since I was a kid. I will not let this chance slip my way. You will see the best of me,” Bautista said. Good luck to the Ala Gym fighters!
WBO Asia Pacific lightweight champion Czar Amonsot (18-2-1, 10 KOs) is no longer scheduled to fight in the World Cup of Boxing. Amonsot has been given the green light to challenge interim WBO lightweight champion Michael Katsidis (22-0, 20 KOs) on July 21 at the Mandalay Bay in Las Vegas, Nevada. The Katsidis-Amonsot rumble will be on the undercard of the mammoth Golden Boy Promotions card featuring Bernard “The Executioner” Hopkins in a titanic showdown with Ronald “Winky” Wright.
