IT WAS a tough Valentine’s Day for my favorite fighter, Gerry Pe?alosa. At the onset, his partner of choice Eric Morel looked significantly bigger and stronger.
But Gerry had been in there against bigger and stronger opponents. Let’s just say, it never really bothered him before.
Unfortunately last Sunday, not only did Morel’s size bother Gerry, many other factors plagued his performance.
CUTS. Foremost were the cuts. Quite early in the fight, the skin around Gerry’s eyes swelled, leading to nasty cuts in the middle rounds.
Whether those cuts were actually inflicted by headbutts or punches is beside the point. A cut is a cut and it bothers the fighter.
Perhaps too many rounds in too many fights in too many arenas? Through the years, the accumulation of blows loosens the skin, depriving it of its elasticity.
A fighter it thus more prone to cutting easily. The same thing happened in Gerry’s previous fight against Juan Manuel Lopez.
It probably didn’t help Gerry’s cause when he opted to trade quite early in the fight. Clearly he came into the fight needing an impressive win, but in the process he initially veered away from his cautious, patient approach.
RALLY. Despite bleeding ghastly, Gerry mounted a rally in the middle rounds. Those nasty body shots Gerry planted on Morel’s torso inevitably did damage and vividly slowed down the latter’s output.
At around the ninth, Morel was clearly wary of his wounded prey who was stalking him like a jilted lover on Valentine’s Day. I thought at this point in the fight, Morel was clearly looking to coast his way to a decision win.
SCORING. I thought Gerry won four of the last five rounds while Morel must have achieved the same feat in the first five. The middle rounds were a “gimme” and so I am fully content with the split decision verdict.
Truly, it was a fight that could have gone either way. If you liked Morel’s early work in timing Gerry’s rushes and the facial damage inflicted then you probably had him winning by a few rounds.
But if you admired the fact that Gerry was able to make adjustments mid-fight and was landing effectively in the championship rounds, then your scorecard would have been partial to Gerry.
NO SHAME. If you ask me, there really was no shame in losing by close decision to a tough, former world champion like Eric Morel.
The latter came in strong, confident and with a credible game plan. He obviously benefited from JuanMa’s advice on how to thwart Gerry’s offense, but hey, this is boxing.
Morel exhibited uncanny lateral movement and had success turning Gerry from side to side which partially nullified his counter-punching prowess.
His corner men certainly did their homework. It’s no big secret that Gerry doesn’t do too well against movers, especially those with a reach advantage.
Gerry hates boring fights and so he is forced to give chase and turn puncher. Indeed, whenever Morel stood in front of Gerry, the latter was able to score well.
But to his credit, Morel looked to be in great physical shape for the fight. A lesser fighter that night would have crumbled in the face of Gerry’s will and determination.
