METRO MANILA - Dave Pe?alosa delivered a career best performance against Marcos Cardenas and stopped the Mexican in four rounds for the vacant WBO Oriental featherweight title. Immediately after Dave was handed the WBO belt, his uncle and promoter, former two division world champion Gerry Pe?alosa declared that Dave was ready for a world title shot.
Gerry, who heads GERRYPENS PROMOTIONS, called out all the featherweight world title holders who are willing to fight in the Philippines but specifically mentioned the WBO world champion Oscar Valdez (25-0,20KO?s) of Mexico.
The southpaw Pe?alosa approached the opening round with measured aggression but was successful with landing his left. In the second, Dave?s corner instructed him to fight at close quarters to neutralize the Mexican?s long reach. Pe?alosa landed hard one-two combos in the subsequent rounds and showcased a sneaky right hook. Cardenas had no answer especially when the Filipino mixed his offense with body shots.
In the 4th round, hard shots to the chin decked Cardenas twice, who bravely got up each time. The crowd yelled themselves hoarse and Dave pounced to finish him. Body shots finished Cardenas, dropping him for a third time and Referee Atty Danrex Tapdasan stopped the carnage at the 2:47 mark.
The 28 year old Pe?alosa remains unbeaten and moves up to 15-0,11KO?s while Cardenas drops to 19-7-1,15KO?s. The 28 year old Mexican lost to Genesis Servania by unanimous decision in 2011 when both were still undefeated.
After the fight Dave told this writer that he feels he still needs to work on a lot of kinks in his arsenal but if given a chance to fight for a world title, he will. His father, former two-division champ Dodie Penalosa said he will defend his title once, and then fight for a world crown.
The referee for this bout was Atty Danrex Tapdasan. The WBO supervisor was Vice President for Asia Pacific Leon Panoncillo. The three judges were Martino Redona of the USA and Filipinos Danilo Lopez and Aquil Tamano.
The fight was held at the SM Skydome in Quezon City.
Undercard report to follow?.
Comments
Share your thoughts on the above article by Rene Bonsubre, Jr..