A divided though spirited audience filled the ARCO Arena Saturday night to watch the World Cup of Boxing, Mexico vs. The Philippines. Filipino fans packed entire sections of the arena and came clad with the blue, red, white, and yellow flag of The Philippines. The extremely loyal Mexican fans were not outdone and may have been the more vocal, if that is possible, in their support of their fighters.
The walk in bout of the evening was a slugging battle between Diosdado Gabi and Jose Angel Beranza. Gabi used excellent head movement to avoid most of Beranza?s power shots. Sharp counter punches guided Gabi to a wide unanimous decision and improved his record to 30-3-1, 21 KO?s, while Beranza fell to 30-10-2, 25 KO?s.
Philippines ? 1 Mexico ? 0
Filipino supporters were happy to win the first match but fans were still trickling in so the atmosphere of the night was still accumulating by the time the second fight started. Miguel Roman representing Mexico and Michael Domingo representing the Philippines, two humble unknown fighters, electrified the crowd with their desire. Roman, an undefeated prospect, was landing heavy shots to all openings and Domingo was not afraid to match him punch for punch. The match was fought evenly through five rounds, which was surprising since Domingo had the record of a journeymen compared to his younger foe. Freddie Roach, who was in the corner of every Filipino fighter that night, properly guided Michael because he fought a great fight.
Domingo fell to the canvas in the 5th round in what was ruled a slip by the referee, but after that point the fight came alive. The two combatants really started going at it and the crowd was on their feet in appreciation for the aggression. In an excellent action fight, Domingo seemed to land more of the telling blows down the stretch, causing the judges to award him a deserved, but surprisingly wide, unanimous decision. Roman suffered his first loss and is now 22-1, 16 KO?s, and Domingo is 32-14, 12 KO?s. The audience participation was in full swing by the time that the decision was announced, declaring the first upset of the night and one that put the Philippines to a surprising lead.
Philippines ? 2 Mexico ? 0
It was now the Philippines? time to showcase an undefeated prospect, in the form of 18-year-old AJ Banal. Jorge Cardenas attempted to upset the Banal and score the first victory for Mexico. He found success in the second round, pressing Banal with effective aggression. However, suddenly in the beginning of the 3rd, Banal landed a fantastic right hook that toppled Cardenas onto his own leg. Cardenas was unable to get up because of his injured right leg, ending Mexico?s hope of anything other than a tie in the World Cup. The 3rd round TKO improved Banal?s record to 14-0-1, 11 KO?s, while Cardenas took the loss to become 9-4-3, 6 KO?s.
Philippines ? 3 Mexico ? 0
The one fight that, on paper, appeared to be a sure win for the Philippines was Z Gorres vs. Eric Ortiz, which featured two fighters headed in opposite directions. That was bad news for fans of Mexico because a win by Gorres would clinch the World Cup for the Philippines. Ortiz did his best to stop the bleeding, but unfortunately for the former champ, he did not have the ability to match Gorres on this night. Gorres used his length against the shorter Ortiz to create and establish proper distance. Z?s weapon of choice was the straight left from the southpaw stance. Ortiz would flurry whenever he got inside or trapped Gorres on the ropes. Those spots were not frequent enough for Ortiz and he was dropping rounds fast. By the 6th, Gorres was starting to slip in right hooks to go along with his lefts, giving Gorres complete control of the bout.
The frequent punches absorbed, and probably a head butt although no head butt ruling was declared, caused an enormous swelling above the right temple of Ortiz. He fought on for a couple more rounds with the large lump even though he was getting repeatedly beaten to the punch. The fight was starting to become out of reach for Ortiz, and the World Cup for Mexico. The ref halted the action so that the doctor could look at Hasim Rahman-like head swelling, and the ringside physician put a stop to the contest. Gorres was announced the 8th round TKO winner to an explosion of support from the Filipino fans. The record of Z Gorres now sits at 27-2-1, 15 KO?s, and Ortiz has lost three of his last six contests of his 26-7, 17 KO campaign.
Philippines ? 4 Mexico ? 0
Oscar De La Hoya was in the front row signing autographs and Lennox Lewis entered as it was announced that HBO would begin their broadcast shortly. Even though the World Cup had already been decided, the Mexican’s were thirsty for a win. WBO Bantamweight Champion Jhonny Gonzalez went into his fight against veteran Filipino Gerry Penalosa as a heavy favorite. The first round was tactical, which was surprising to see from the usually offensive minded Gonzalez. The emotions erupted in the last 20 seconds of the first round when the two fighters furiously traded power punches. Penalosa was holding his own every step of the way against the champion. Gonzalez backed away flicking jabs as Penalosa stalked him, uncharacteristically the aggressor. Gonzalez landed loud, eye-catching uppercuts and left hooks to the body in the middle rounds, the best punches of the fight to that point.
Despite the good work being done by Jhonny, Penalosa was slipping punches and using angles to fire off quick attacks. Gerry was landing as many, or more, clean punches heading into the 7th round. As Gonzalez went on attack in the 7th, Penalosa ducked down and fired off a sweeping left hand that landed perfectly under the rib cage of Gonzalez. The affects of the shot had a delayed reaction, but Gonzalez dropped to a knee, paralyzed from the effects of that body punch. He was unable to rise to his feet, causing the second upset of the night: a 7th round KO for Gerry Penalosa. Penalosa captured the WBO Bantamweight Championship by improving his record to 52-6, 35 KO?s. Gonzalez was unable to give Mexico its first victory and had his record drop to 34-6, 9 KO?s.
Philippines ? 5 Mexico ? 0
The final hope for Mexico not to get shut out on this night fell on the shoulders of WBO Super Bantamweight Champion Daniel Ponce de Leon. Although fighters from the Philippines had gone 5-0 up until this point in the night, southpaw fighters had gone 4-0 as well. In this fight, the main event of the evening, Ponce De Leon was a southpaw fighter from Mexico, while his challenger Rey Bautista was an orthodox boxer from the Philippines. One of the streaks had to end here.
Ponce de Leon came out in his trademark style: rugged and rough. He aggressively attacked with wide but crushing shots. I spotted a number of t-shirts featuring Daniel in the arena so despite the poor performance of Mexico in the night, the Mexican fans were still in support of their champion 100%. Supporters of Mexico had been quieted throughout the evening, but that all changed as soon as Ponce de Leon began his walkout to the ring. The chants of ?Mexico? were echoing in the arena as the two fighters started the first round. Ponce De Leon was able to land with his looping punches with surprising ease. Instead of blocking, Bautista attempted to leap in with counter punches as Ponce De Leon worked his way inside. This was not an effective strategy for Rey because he was getting hit cleanly against a very big puncher.
The fans were raucous as Ponce De Leon violently jumped forward winging his sledgehammer fists. Bautista had been rattled earlier in the round but continued to try to time Ponce de Leon?s attacks instead of being more defensive. Rey?s timing was not on point as a monster 1-2 combination fell clean on the chin of Bautista, blasting the young Filipino?s senses out of his head. Bautista stumbled down to the canvas and into the ropes and Ponce de Leon threw up his hands in celebration as he walked to a neutral corner. Bautista got up before being counted out but it was obvious that he was still badly hurt. Ponce de Leon used his size and strength advantage to successfully go in for the kill. As Ray slumped down to the canvas for the second time, the referee stepped in and waved off the fight, making Daniel Ponce De Leon the winner by 1st round TKO.
Win the win Ponce De Leon avoided a Mexico shut out in the World Cup, kept the southpaw victory streak alive, made the fifth defense of his title, and improved his record to 32-1, 29 KO?s. There is now second-guessing that 21-year-old Bautista, whose record is now 23-1, 17 KO?s, was moved towards a world title shot too quickly.
The Filipino fans were happy because they came away with the World Cup of Boxing. The Mexican fans went home happy because they won the main event in spectacular fashion, expect for one drunken rowdy individual who was escorted out by security after Gonzalez vs. Penalosa fight. The highlight reel knockout was a perfect cap to a great night of boxing, which was made so memorable by the enthusiastic, though sometimes hostile audience supporting their national boxers.
Final Tally: Philippines ? 5 Mexico ? 1
