When not in the ring himself, Oscar De La Hoya wants to be known as a hands-on promoter.
True to his word, he came to Sacramento early so he could get personally involved with activities leading up to tonight’s championship card at Arco Arena.
What boxing’s biggest attraction and the president of Golden Boy Promotions didn’t anticipate, though, was a dilemma dropped into his lap two days before the card: figuring out a tiebreaker for the team aspect of the show.
Originally, a best-of-seven format between fighters from Mexico and the Philippines — including the two World Boxing Organization title bouts — was to decide the winner of the trophy. Since then, one match was cancelled for medical reasons, creating the possibility each team could win three bouts.
As a result, De La Hoya said he’s decided that the country with the most knockout victories in the six bouts will win the team crown. And if the KO victories are equal?
“Then we’ll count how many individual rounds each fighter has won for all six bouts and break the tie that way,” said De La Hoya.
And if the total rounds won are even? “Good question, but I don’t think it will come to that,” he said.
Of course, the question now is, will fighters alter their strategy trying to get a KO?
Perhaps, but it probably won’t make any difference in the main event between Mexico’s Daniel Ponce De Leon (31-1, 28 KOs) and Rey “Boom Boom” Bautista (23-0, 17 KOs) of the Philippines.
Ponce De Leon is already known as a brawler, and when Bautista was asked about the origin of his nickname, he said, “It’s because when I hit you with one punch, there’s always another coming.”
The companion title fight matches WBO bantamweight champion Jhonny Gonz?lez (34-5, 29 KOs) of Mexico against Filipino challenger Gerry Penalosa (51-6-2, 34 KOs), a 35-year-old former junior-featherweight champion who lost to Ponce De Leon by unanimous decision in March.
When told Penalosa is confident his experience and reputation should give him an edge, the 25-year-old Gonz?lez retorted, “Penalosa’s time is past.”
Gonz?lez also has doubts his veteran opponent can adjust easily from a 122-pound title fight five months ago to the 118-pound limit tonight.
A third 12-rounder is between Eric Ort?z (26-6-1, 17 KOs) of Mexico and Z Gorres (26-2-1, 14 KOs) of the Philippines for the vacant International Boxing Federation Intercontinental junior-bantamweight title.
Ort?z, former junior-flyweight champion, was on the undercard until his opponent was cancelled with a detached retina, so matchmaker Eric Gomez put him in against Gorres, who had laser eye surgery in July.
The honorary captain for the Philippine team is the country’s most famous fighter, Manny Pacquiao. The captain for Mexico, which won the first cup competition against Thailand in 2005, is World Boxing Council junior-lightweight champion Juan Manuel Marquez, who fought Pacquiao to a draw three years ago. Both are training for upcoming title fights.
