SACRAMENTO –(UPDATE) Gerry Pe?alosa became the third Filipino world champion in two months Saturday, dethroning Mexican WBO bantamweight champion Jhonny Gonzalez with a seventh-round knockout at the Arco Arena here.
Proving to detractors that he still had some fight left in him, the 35-year-old former WBC super flyweight champion put away the Mexican for good with one punch to the body late in the seventh round.
The world title was the third for the country after Florante Condes captured the IBF minimumweight crown and Nonito Donaire seized the IBF flyweight championship early July.
The victory, however, was bittersweet after Rey “Boom Boom” Bautista succumbed to a first-round annihilation at the hands of WBO super bantam champ Daniel Ponce de Leon in the main event of the World Cup.
Pe?alosa stalked Gonzalez in the opening round, while the Mexican moved around to avoid the big bombs. Pe?alosa landed some lefts and engaged De Leon in furious exchange at the closing part of the round.
Gonzalez then took the second round, using his jabs and moving well around the ring. The two unloaded on each other at the dying seconds of the round.
After a close third round, Gonzalez took the fourth while Pe?alosa barely won the fifth before the Mexican again took the sixth stanza.
A big left to the rib cage in the seventh sent Gonzalez crumpling to the canvas, and as Pe?alosa was about to go for the kill, the referee counted out the Mexican.
“I have always said that I am going to retire after this fight. But I am going to still fight if Ponce De Leon wants to fight me again in a rematch,” said Pe?alosa at the post-fight press conference.
“I made a big mistake. He hit me with a good shot. It was very painful. I couldn’t make 118 lbs anymore. I want a rematch at 122 lbs,” said Gonzalez.
Gonzalez was leading on two judges’ scorecards before the stoppage, while the third had it even.
The punch stats showed Pe?alosa way behind before the stoppage of the fight. Gonzalez threw a total of 467 punches, 103 of which landed, while Pe?alosa threw only 357 punches and only 69 landed. Gonzalez connected 31 of the 248 jabs thrown, while Pe?alosa only connected 17 of the 162 jabs.
As to power punches, Gonzalez threw 219 and 72 landed, while Penalosa only threw 195, 52 of which made their mark.
In the main event, Mexican Daniel Ponce De Leon proved too much for the erstwhile unbeaten Rey “Boom Boom” Bautista, stopping the Filipino in the first round of a scheduled 12-round duel.
A big left set up by a right jab landed on Bautista’s kisser, knocking down the latter. This was followed up by the same big lefts that once again sent Bautista reeling into the ropes, prompting referee Jon Schorle to stop the bout at 2:30 of the round.
Bautista came out of his corner looking for the big punch, possibly in an effort to stop De Leon early. The “Raramuri Warrior,” however, wisely picked his shots and scored easily against the young challenger.
Bautista apologized later for the loss, and promised to come back and return a better fighter after this loss, his first in 24 fights.
