SAN CARLOS CITY — Gerry Pe?alosa, the World Boxing Organization bantamweight champion, yesterday disclosed that negotiations are ongoing for a possible rematch with his Mexican tormentor, Daniel Ponce De Leon, the WBO super bantamweight king.
But the southpaw from San Carlos said he is also open to the possibility of fighting in the Philippines before rubbing mitts with De Leon, who has established a reputation as a Filipino killer with wins over Pe?alosa and Rey “Boom Boom” Bautista.
Pe?alosa (56 wins, 6 losses, 2 draws with 35 KOs) said his second fight with De Leon is being eyed as one of the undercards of the blockbuster duel between Ricky Hatton and Floyd Mayweather on Dec. 8 in Atlantic City, New Jersey.
“I want to avenge my loss and Boom Boom’s,” Pe?alosa said, referring to Bautista’s shocking opening-round knockout defeat at the hands of De Leon on the night he won the WBO bantam crown over Mexican Jhonny Gonzalez.
Pe?alosa said he has already taken to heart the lessons he learned from his defeat to De Leon and trainer Freddie Roach will play a big part in mapping out his plan of avenging his loss.
“Coach Freddie (Roach) and I have been discussing about my loss and what I should do,” he said.
Among the aspects that he needs to work on, Pe?alosa said, is the power in his punches, footwork and head movement.
“I promise to fight from the opening bell until the end. This time, I am challenging him so I will have to match his (De Leon’s) aggressiveness and throw more punches,” Pe?alosa, who has never been knocked down in 64 fights, said.
“Hopefully, I will be coming back here a champion,” he said.
The last time they fought, De Leon peppered Pe?alosa with a wide array of head and body shots that did not pack enough power to take the sting out of the Filipino, who managed to sneak cleaner blows.
De Leon won by unanimous decision, a verdict which boxing analysts claimed was supposed to be closer than how the judges scored the fight.
Meanwhile, Pe?alosa has tipped Manny Pacquiao to win by stoppage when he battles Mexican Marco Antonio Barrera on Oct. 6 in Las Vegas.
“Barrera will be lucky if he goes past 10 rounds,” Pe?alosa said.*
