TWO-DIVISION world champion Gerry “Fearless” Pe?alosa wants the best fights out there before he retires and has set his sights on one of the biggest draws in the lower weight divisions—WBC, IBF and WBA super flyweight king Vic “The Raging Bull” Darchinyan.
Pe?alosa only has a few more fights left before he retires and he wants to face Darchinyan in Top Rank’s boxing extravaganza tentatively scheduled on Aug. 29 at the Araneta Coliseum.
“Negotiations are still ongoing with Darchinyan,” Rex “Wakee” Salud told Sun.Star in an interview yesterday.
The 36-year-old Pe?alosa originally wanted former world champions Eric Morel, Jorge Arce and Daniel Ponce De Leon.
However Morel and Arce are already out of the picture.
De Leon, a former Pe?alosa nemesis, is still a possible opponent for the veteran two-division world titleholder.
However, he is more inclined to accept a clash with Darchinyan.
“We have a problem with De Leon because Golden Boy will be asking for money. There is still a chance of Gerry fighting De Leon but our focus is Darchinyan,” Salud said.
Salud believes that Pe?alosa will be in for a difficult fight against Darchinyan because of the 33-year-old Armenian’s awkward boxing technique.
“It will be a hard fight for Gerry because of his unorthodox style but Gerry can take his punches,” he said.
Pe?alosa endured 10 rounds of pounding from World Boxing Organization champion Juan Manuel Lopez, who is a hard puncher like Darchinyan, in his last fight last last April 25 in Puerto Rico.
After dominating the super flyweight category and defeating the division’s top fighters—Dimitri Kirilov, Christian Mijares and Arce—Darchinyan’s winning streak ended after he joined the bantamweight division.
He lost to IBF titlist Joseph Agbeko via unanimous decision last Sunday.
Headlining the Aug. 29 boxing event is IBF light flyweight champion Brian Viloria, who will be having his first title defense.
