This Saturday, 25th of April in a card titled ?Champion vs Champion?, the Puerto Rican champion Juan Manuel ?Juanma? L?pez (24-0 y 22 knockouts) will defend his WBO junior featherweight title against the WBO bantamweight champion, the Filipino Gerry Pe?alosa. The event is presented by PR Best Boxing Promotions and Top Rank and will be broadcast live by HBO from the Ruben Rodriguez Coliseum in Bayamon Puerto Rico.
In the first part of our interview with the young Puerto Rico champion, Juan Ma shares with us his opinion of his opponent Gerry Pe?alosa and gives us his prediction for this fight.
Juan Ma you have a fight this coming Saturday with Gerry Pe?alosa of the Philippines. What do you know about him?
Well Pe?alosa is a fighter I?ve been able to see fight on various occasions. He?s a strong, aggressive fighter. I know he?s a fighter who can take a lot of punches. He?s not a cautious fighter, due to the experience that he has, but he gets hit a lot? you know. He can take a shot, but he also receives a lot punches. He doesn?t have a lot of head or waist movements. He always goes forward and looks to fight up close.
What do you believe is going to be your key to victory?
Look, I believe it?s going to be my hand speed primarily; also my ring generalship and waist movements. Above all since he receives so many shots, we?re going to have the ability to land our straight left and right hook. Those are punches he gets hit with often and their part of my arsenal. I believe those punches are going to do a lot of damage to him. Since he can take a punch so well, I don?t doubt that he will last many rounds, because he can take a shot. He lasted against Ponce de Leon and Johny Gonzales, but their both fighters with styles different then mines. They?re not boxers that land their punches with the speed and power that I do.
What?s your prediction for this fight?
Look this is going to be a fight that is going to be very difficult in the beginning. There is going to be some infighting, some rough tactics from both him and I. But I believe this is a fight, where even though a lot of people believe that the longer it lasts the worst it is for me, I think that as the rounds go by it will be worst for him. Because since he receives so many punches as the rounds go by he is going to get hurt. I don?t think this fight will go the distance. I believe this fight will end by knock out.
In the second part of our interview with Juan Manuel Lopez, the young Puerto Rican champ talks to us about another Filipino fighter has been rumored to be matched against in the past, Bernabe Concepcion, gives us his thoughts on the Pound for Pond debate (Manny Pacquaio-Juan Manuel Marquez), discusses the possibility of the start of a boxing rivalry between Puerto Rican and Filipino boxers, and sends a message directly to all Filipino boxing fans. Don’t miss the second part of our interivew with Lopez tommorrow.
