On Saturday, at the ARCO Arena in Sacramento, California, Golden Boy Promotions hosts the second Boxing World Cup, as teams of fighters from Mexico and the Philippines will do battle over six bouts. Golden Boy promoted the first World Cup event on October 29, 2005 between Mexico and Thailand on the neutral ground of Tucson, Arizona. The event, one of the better overall cards of the year, featured four WBO World title bouts, as Mexico took home the trophy with a 5-1 score, winning all four title bouts. The second event had been in discussion for much of the year, with the possibility of it taking place in the Philippines, until landing in Northern California. This year?s event figures to be more evenly matched than it?s predecessor, with an arena full of national pride expected.
The main event, one of two bouts televised by HBO?s Boxing After Dark, pits WBO Super Bantamweight Champion Daniel Ponce De Leon against Rey ?Boom Boom? Bautista of Cebu City, Philippines. De Leon (31-1, 28 KOs) is no stranger to the World Cup event, having defeated Sod Looknongyangntoy to win his title as part of the first event. De Leon is coming off an uneven performance against another Filipino featured on Saturday?s card, Gerry Penalosa, which resulted in lopsided scores for the Mexican that were lambasted by most critics who saw a much closer bout. Bautista (23-0, 17 KOs) is coming off the highest profile win of his career, an entertaining decision victory over Sergio Manuel Medina on the Oscar De La Hoya/Floyd Mayweather undercard in May. It figures to be a high contact battle between two fighters never accused of being defensively minded.
The Pick: De Leon by late stoppage
In the second televised bout, Jhonny Gonzalez defends his WBO Bantamweight title against former WBC Super Flyweight Champion Gerry Penalosa (51-6-2, 34 KOs). Gonzalez (34-5, 29 KOs) bounced back from a knockout loss at super bantamweight to Israel Vazquez in his last bout by defending his title against Irene Pacheco in a ninth-round TKO victory. Gonzalez is also no stranger to the World Cup format, having won his title with a victory over Ratanachai Sor Vorapin on the 2005 card. Pacheco, like Penalosa, achieved his title winning success at a lower weight class. Penalosa is coming off the aforementioned disputed decision loss to Daniel Ponce De Leon, and moves back down to bantamweight for this title try. The bout figures to be the veteran Penalosa?s last hurrah win or lose. The bout could be a classic boxer versus puncher match-up, but in this bout the puncher could decide to box as well, as Gonzalez did for the early part of the Vazquez bout. Penalosa has not had much luck in close decision fights in the past either.
The pick: Gonzalez by close and potentially disputed decision
The main non-televised undercard bout was to
