Oscar De La Hoya?s Golden Boy Promotions will present the first ever ?2007 Boxing World Cup ? Mexico vs. The Philippines.? The event will occur on Saturday, August 11, at the Arco Arena in Sacramento, CA, and it promises to be an intriguing best-of-seven series.
The ?2007 Boxing World Cup ? Mexico vs. The Philippines? will be headlined by WBO junior featherweight champion Daniel Ponce DeLeon (31-1, 28 KOs) of Mexico against mandatory challenger Rey Bautista (23-0, 17 KOs) of the Philippines. In the co-feature, Mexico?s Jhonny Gonzalez (34-5, 29 KOs) defends his WBO bantamweight championship against Gerry Penalosa (51-6-2, 34 KOs) of the Philippines.
De Leon vs. Bautista/Gonzalez vs. Penalosa will be featured on HBO?s famed ?Boxing After Dark? telecast beginning at 10 PM/EST.
De Leon is highly regarded as one of the top super bantamweights in the world. De Leon is a 27 year-old southpaw with 90 percent of his victories occurring by knockout. De Leon has been dominant from the start of his professional career in March 2001. De Leon has 24 KOs within the first five rounds, with 9 having occurred in the first.
De Leon, who has twice defeated Sod Looknongyangtoy (W 12, KO 1) and Penalosa (W 12), only lost to current WBA super bantamweight champion Celestino Caballero. De Leon wants a rematch with Caballero, who fought a twelve-round foul fest last week against Jorge Lacierva. First De Leon must not look past the stern challenge of Bautista.
Bautista is an unbeaten 21-year-old. He has been matched very well against fighters with winning records in 10 of his last eleven fights.
Gonzalez vs. Penalosa, IBF Eliminators
The 25 year-old Gonzalez has fought some of the best fighters in the bantamweight class. Former world champions Francisco Tejedor (TKO 1), Ratanachai Sor Vorapin (TKO 7), Mark Johnson (KO 8), and Irene Pacheco (TKO 9) have all been knocked out by Gonzalez. Gonzalez has knocked out six of his last eight opponents in almost 24 months.
Only current WBO super bantamweight champion Fernando Montiel (W 12) lasted the distance with Gonzalez. Israel Vazquez, who regained the WBC super bantamweight championship with an exciting six-round TKO of Rafael Marquez in a highly anticipated rematch last week, is the last fighter within the past five years to have beaten Gonzalez (TKO 10).
Penalosa has a wealth of experience including a 1 ?-year reign as WBC super flyweight champion (Feb. 1997-Aug.1998). Although the 35-year-old Penalosa has five losses, he has never been KO?d. Penalosa is coming off a failed bid to relieve De Leon of the WBO super bantamweight belt in March.
Also on the card, two IBF elimination bouts will be featured on the ?2007 Boxing World Cup ? Mexico vs. The Philippines.? Gerson Guerrero (33-7, 25 KOs) of Mexico battles Philippine Z Gorres (26-2-1, 14 KOs) with the winner becoming the No. 1-ranked contender for the IBF junior bantamweight championship.
Bert Batawang (50-6, 34 KOs) challenges Gerardo Verde (15-4, 11 KOs) in a bout that will determine the mandatory challenger to the throne of IBF junior flyweight champion Ulises Solis. Solis recently made his seventh consecutive title defense with an exciting eighth-round TKO of Rodel Mayol on the David Diaz-Erik Morales undercard last week.
