SACRAMENTO, Aug. 11 ? The pressure was on Daniel Ponce DeLeon. The awkward southpaw with the crude technique has never been the most popular of the many world title holders from Mexico, but in the minutes before he climbed into the ring to battle undefeated Rey Bautista in the HBO-televised main event of Golden Boy Promotions? ?Mexico vs. The Philippines World Cup?, an entire nation (well, at least those Mexicans and Mexican-Americans who were inside the ARCO Arena) put its hopes on him.
Earlier in the evening, the members Team Philippines won all of their bouts vs. the members of Team Mexico, putting Mexico down 0-5. It was bad enough to the fans of Team Mexico that their fighters had lost the World Cup, but it looked like they could get shut out by Team Philippines.
Not if DeLeon, of Chihuahua, had anything to say about it. The WBO 122-pound title holder blasted Bautista, of Bohol, out in two and half minutes of the opening round, dropping the 21-year-old Filipino prospect twice in the process.
CompuBox statistics tell the story of one-sided one-round blowout:
DeLeon, whom improved to 32-1 (29), held a 20-to-four connect advantage over Bautista, who dropped to 23-1 (17). Nineteen of the 20 punches DeLeon landed were power shots. Wild, hatchet-like power punches.
At the sound of the opening bell, DeLeon attacked Bautista like a madman on mission, buckling the baby-faced puncher?s knees with the first chopping left hand he landed. DeLeon kept hammering the game but-outgunned youth with left-hand haymakers until he separated the bewildered and overwhelmed young man from his senses and referee Jon Schorle stepped in and halted the massacre.
?I?m very emotional right now,? DeLeon said after the fight was stopped. ?This was for my country. I showed everybody who I am.?
What DeLeon is, is a very dangerous puncher, one of the hardest hitters, pound for pound, in boxing. Any boxer who fights in 122- and 126-pound divisions and has a questionable chin, like Bautista, best avoid the left-handed slugger.
Bautista, caught up in the overwhelming pride of his countrymen that were among (and probably the majority of) the 4,469 fans inside ARCO Arena, didn?t even try to avoid DeLeon?s wild shots, and he paid the price.
?I feel ashamed,? Bautista said before leaving the ring.
He shouldn?t. He?s a green prospect who had no business being installed as the no. 1 contender to the WBO?s 122-pound title. He?s a growing fighter who got caught by a mature fighter who just happens to be a murderous puncher.
And despite Bautista?s failure to give Team Philippines a clean sweep in Golden Boy?s version of the ?World Cup?, the Filipino team won, clearly announcing that Filipino boxing has arrived in the United States.
In the co-featured bout of Golden Boy Promotions card, former WBC 115-pound titlist Gerry Penalosa stopped Jhonny Gonzalez in the seventh round of their 118-pound title fight with a paralyzing one-in-a-million left-handed body shot to the liver of the long-reigning WBO bantamweight title holder.
It was a sudden, shocking ending to what had been, up until that point, a boring, tactical fight.
Gonzalez, who dropped to 34-6 (29), boxed most of the fight from a distance, utilizing his jab and underrated footwork to full effect. The shorter Penalosa, now 52-6-2 (34), had to assume the role of stalker and had trouble with Gonzalez?s height and reach. There was some action in the final seconds of a few of the rounds, but most of the bout was a game of cat and mouse that was frustrating to the Filipino fans in attendance. Gonzalez, of Mexico City, wouldn?t engage and Penalosa, of Manila, wasn?t busy enough to make something happen.
The Filipino fans went form chanting ?Gerry! Gerry!? to ?Stop running and fight, Jhonny!? by the middle rounds of the pedestrian bout.
At the start of the seventh round Gonzalez landed a hard body shot that knocked Penalosa off balance. A few seconds later the ?old man? returned the favor with a sweeping left-handed body shot that put Gonzalez down in a neutral corner, unable to beat Pat Russell?s 10-count or get up at all. The bout was stopped at 2:35 of the round.
?I made a mistake,? Gonzalez said afterward. ?I dropped my right hand and he hit me with a beautiful body shot. The pain was so great, I couldn?t get up.
?I want a rematch, but at 122 pounds. I?m too weak at 118 pounds these days.?
The bantamweight limit seems to suit the 35-year-old Penalosa just fine. This past March, Penalosa lost a controversial 12-round decision to DeLeon in a bout in which he landed the cleaner punches but was never able to hurt his foe. At 118 pounds, the former junior bantamweight titlist seems to have more speed and pop; and now he?s got another world title around his waist.
?Oh my God. Thank you Lord!? the veteran southpaw said. ?I?ve been waiting for this for so many years.?
Penalosa lost his 115-pound title eight years ago overseas. In the time it?s taken him to win another one, Manny Pacquiao has emerged as one of the best and most popular fighters in the world, and Filipino fight fans have grown in numbers to the point of being able to compete with Mexican and Puerto Rican fans here in the United States.
NON-TELEVISED ACTION
Junior bantamweight contender Z Gorres, of Mandaue City, stopped former WBC junior flyweight titlist Eric Ortiz, of Mexico City, in the eighth round of their IBF 115-pound Intercontinental title match due to grotesque swelling above the Mexican veteran?s right eye.
Gorres, a southpaw who improved to 27-2-1 (15), was in command for most of the fight, landing hard straight lefts from the outside in every round. Ortiz, who dropped to 26-7-1 (17), simply lacked the size, strength, power and speed to compete with his Filipino foe.
Ortiz wasn?t lacking heart, however, so he engaged Gorres in the only way he could, by trying to smother the bigger man?s punches by rushing Gorres every chance he got. The bull-like charges and Gorres?s wide southpaw stance led to the many foot entanglements and accidental head butts that occurred throughout the fight. One of those headbutts probably led to the giant bump that formed on the right side of Ortiz?s forehead and ultimately ended the contest at 2:15 of the eighth round.
Unbeaten 115-pound prospect AJ Banal, from Cebu, blasted Jorge Cardenas, of Los Mochis, with a short right hook at the start of the third round that ended their junior bantamweight contest scheduled for six rounds. Banal, who improved to 14-0-1 (11), controlled most of the action of the first two rounds with his superior footwork and power punches that he used to pot shot Cardenas, who had his moments, but fell to 9-4-3 (6), after being felled by the Filipino?s lightening fast hook.
?I studied him for a long time,? Banal said. ?I waited for him to come in and hit him with a right hook and he fell.?
Cardenas fell in a twisted manner that caused him to sprain his right ankle. The proud fighter said he would have gotten up if hadn?t injured his ankle.
In a wildly entertaining junior featherweight six rounder that seemed closer than the official scorecards indicated, veteran Michael Domingo, of Libac, handed hot prospect Miguel Roman, of Ciudad Juarez, his first loss via shutout unanimous decision.
Domingo, who improved to 32-14-2 (12) by a unanimous score of 60-54, used his experience, superior technique and greater hand speed to overcome the youth, physical strength and constant pressure of Roman, who dropped to 21-1 (15).
The two fighters engaged in heated exchanges for much of rounds four, five and six, spurring the early crowd to stand and cheer passionately.
Junior bantamweight contender Diosdado Gaby, of Davao City, improved to 30-3-1 (21) with a unanimous eight-round decision over Mexico City?s Jose Angel Beranza, who dropped to 30-10-2 (25), in a brisk bout to open the World Cup. Gaby won by unanimous scores of 80-72.
