Before Manny Pacquiao, there was Gerry Pe?alosa. Take that from Bob Arum.
You can ask Pacquiao, the pound-for-pound king, who’s the better boxer between them, and he would say it’s Pe?alosa.
That is, from a technical standpoint. Freddie Roach, who trains both guys, has confirmed that on record, calling Pe?alosa the best technical fighter to have ever come out of the Philippines.
It’s a pretty big honor considering the rich history, and growing stature, of boxing in the Philippines. The islands have produced two hall of fame fighters (the most in Asia); Pancho Villa and Flash Elorde, who are all time greats in their respective divisions, and then some. Notable world champions like Ceferino Garcia and Luisito Espinosa, too. In between is a host of good to great fighters led by none other than Pacquiao.
Having said all that, I completely concur: Pe?alosa is the best Filipino technical boxer, ever.
Asked by my 411 colleague Patrick Cassidy to give an example of an underappreciated fighter, I gave him one answer, and that answer is, of course, Gerry Pe?alosa.
A complete fighter, he excels in almost every aspect of boxing. He is technically brilliant. He is a master counter-puncher. He is a vicious body attacker. He has a solid defense. He even has decent speed and power. He possesses an unbelievable chin, toughness, and heart. Think about that.
Pe?alosa is sort of like the Juan Manuel Marquez of the Philippines. The rose among the thorns. The boxer among the fighters. Part of the reason why he earns the distinction of being the best technical boxer from the Philippines is because the country, much like Mexico, wires its boxers to be fighters, as opposed to boxers. But that doesn’t mean that Pe?alosa lacks the fortitude of the fighters that came before and surround him. He is one of my favorite fighters and I hoped that he would be able to forge a more memorable career even at an advanced age, like Marquez.
The fight with Juan Manuel Lopez was a mistake. Pe?alosa went up in weight, while still owning a title at his original weight, to challenge a much younger, but not much hungrier, much bigger Lopez. Pe?alosa managed to squeeze in some nice right hooks in the face his energetic adversary but to no avail– he couldn’t hurt him. But that’s not to say Lopez hurt him much at all. Pe?alosa got beat up, looked beat up, and it is the only decisive loss of Pe?alosa’s career. There was no way, NO WAY, that Pe?alosa was going down in that fight. Like I said, his chin is made of steel (he was never knocked down in 63 professional fights!), and it’s as strong as his toughness and heart, all of which he showed on that unfortunate night.
HBO boxing commentator Max Kellerman, in awe, called him “inhuman.” I’ve seen it before (but I was still surprised) and that may very well be what Pe?alosa is. I guess Kellerman appreciated that warrior courage, but there was more to Pe?alosa that just those. He has skills, folks, SKILLS.
Throughout his career, though, he has remained overlooked and underappreciated. Sure, significant names like Bob Arum, Freddie Roach, and Manny Pacquiao appreciate just how great Pe?alosa is. (By the way, you could make a case that those three names above are the greatest ever in their own areas; Arum as a promoter, Roach as a trainer, and Pacquiao as a fighter, so it’s a pretty great company.) But you know who I think don’t appreciate Pe?alosa enough?
Judges, that’s who.
Pe?alosa came back down to the weight class he’s more comfortable at (bantamweight) in search of another run for a world title. He has already won two before. He won the first from way back in 1997 (WBC Super Flyweight from Hiroshi Kawashima), and amazingly, after retiring and returning, won another a decade later, in 2007 (WBO Bantamweight from Jhonny Gonzalez). As per his agreement with his trainer Roach, this would be his last bid for a world title. In a title eliminator for his former belt, which is now held by Fernando Montiel, he faced Eric Morel in the PPV Latin Fury 13/Pinoy Power 3.
Pe?alosa did his usual thing. As a southpaw, he clashed heads a couple of times with the bigger, orthodox Morel, which gave him a cut that caused him to be bleeding for much of the bout. With his fast hands, Morel took off with a fast start, hitting Pe?alosa and moving away nicely before the Filipino catches up with him. Many of those attacks were blocked by Pe?alosa, though. The taste of blood might have made the Filipino turn it up a notch in urgency, as he continually stalked Morel and slowed him down with his trademark body shots. As the fight progressed the Puerto Rican was backing up more than ever, and if the Filipino approached he would periodically prevent him with a dirty move or two.
It turned out to be a good fight, which I have to admit I would understand to be seen as a close one. But Pe?alosa won it.
Maybe not clearly, but he won it.
I said “not clearly” because there seem to be a lack of appreciation to Pe?alosa’s style (get used to that word). Morel threw significantly more punches, but Pe?alosa, needless to say, landed at a higher connect percentage. Defense didn’t seem to be something that the judges saw, as Pe?alosa performed better at this end than Morel. The bodyshots, many of which were sharp, didn’t seem to give good impressions with the judges (who possibly would be enticed more at slo-mo replay-inducing facials). The tactics of Morel, which looked intended due to its frequency, inclusive of but not limited to, excessive clinching of the head (instead of just the arms, which is allowable to a degree), low blows, and maybe those headbutts, didn’t seem to cause Morel even a little, with or without point deductions.
And so the decision was read, one judge in good judgment (pun intended) gave it to Pe?alosa 115-113, while another gave it to Morel with the same score, and the deciding card was 116-112, for Morel.
This isn’t the first time that Pe?alosa found himself on the wrong end of a bad decision. In fact, he lost a decision to Daniel Ponce De Leon much in the same way; Pe?alosa played the part of the effective puncher while De Leon was the ineffective aggressor. Against Morel, he was forced to be the aggressor towards the end, walking down Morel’s punches, but in totality Morel had the bigger punch production.
Look at Pe?alosa’s record, and it’s ridiculous. All his losses are controversial decisions (except the aforementioned stoppage loss to Lopez). He was gypped twice in South Korea (versus In-Joo Choo) and in Japan (versus Masamori Tokuyama). Extremely close decisions against the hometown fighters, overseas. Go figure. Watch his fights, and it’s even more ridiculous. Bring a trained eye and observe that he could have won some, if not all, of those fights.
It’s either he is just a cursed fighter (and some will sadly remember him for that), or that the judges weren’t able to exercise better judgment in seeing him fight. If only Pe?alosa were luckier (or, well, if the judges were better), the world would have been looking at a different fighter. The fans would see him as the world-class fighter that he is. Most everyone would have appreciated him.
If I am going overboard with the judge-blasting, forbid me. Others can point that Pe?alosa just doesn’t punch or pressure enough, but that’s his style. He’s good at what he does and he shouldn’t change. We should just be trusting that it would be at the hands of credible judges who are as good with what they do. I just can’t help my frustration over Pe?alosa’s career. He’s a graceful act, but I can only imagine his own frustration. That last fight could be his swan song and it’s a sad song. Pe?alosa is an under-appreciated fighter and we may not have more chances to see just how good he is.
But I appreciate him. Thank you, Gerry. You are as sweet as the sweet science goes.
Crashing Right Hooks:
Notes from the Pinoy Power 3/Latin Fury 13 card:
– Good scrap by Mario Santiago and Bernabe Concepcion. I don’t know if you noticed, but considering the activity of those two and the total number of punches (Santiago threw more), their defense were pretty good. Their movement and blocking caused each other to miss a lot and not hit cleanly. It’s as good defense as you would see in such kind of fight. I thought the knockdown was the difference, but towards the end Santiago finally broke Concepcion’s defense by weakening him with his body attacks. I agree that Concepcion won, but it was a bad scorecard as well.
– Is there anything that says “you don’t belong here” (at least not yet) better than the crippling liver punch that Montiel delivered to Ciso Morales? Morales (now 14-1) was moved a little too fast, methinks. It was Fernando Montiel for freak’s sake!
– Nonito Donaire looked very good again, albeit in another mismatch. Boxrec lists his replacement opponent, Manuel Vargas, to be 5’6″ but there is no way that he is. He looked too small in height and body. He showed was game (something you should expect from Mexican fighters), but it was a pity. I’m sure he was good at his original weight (the minimumweights), but Donaire was just too good and too big at this weight.
– For the record, I wish Pe?alosa fights again. Obviously, he’s still good. A rematch with Morel, maybe. But I have another wish, and this at a shooting star: better judges. We haven’t forgotten the other horrible decisions (even early this year).
– Good card overall. I don’t know how many bought the PPV, but I guess those that did should be pretty satisfied (if only because of the good fights of Concepcion-Santiago and Morel-Pe?alosa). Or not (horrible decisions on those matches).
– By the way, to one of the broadcasters of this card that I saw, Santiago wasn’t deliberately trying to hit Concepcion on the low. The “low blow” shouts were excessive and unnecessary, Kenny Bayless is one of the best referees in the sport and he knows what he was doing. Concepcion’s trunks were a little high, too… And Pe?alosa did win that fight and wasn’t lagging behind that much (unless you were talking of the real scorecards) by how it looked. How did it feel when Pacquiao stepped in your coverage and said he thought Pe?alosa won at least seven rounds? Yeah, even Roach, and the referee know that Pe?alosa won.
Other random thoughts (and plugs)…
– I interacted with Bill Dettloff of The Ring regarding his quip in one of his articles. He said something about him being the new WBC mini-super junior cruiserweight intercontinental FECARBOX interim champion. So I told him that I am the WBA super regular mini youth Fedelatin inter-regional middleweight champion of the world. I asked him for a unification or if we could fight for a diamond belt or something, but I realized that the belt I’m claiming might really be existing. Lol. Hahah. I’m still coming for your belt, Bill!
– I’m finally back (again), and you can read my archives at Suite101, including my features on the Best of the Decade. Fights of the Decade and Fighter of the Decade are coming up (for real, now). I have another relevant top ten list to be published, watch out.
– Also, I have begun my basketball blog site called the “NBA Kid Analyst” at www.nbakidanalyst.tk (and Bleacher Report). Feel free to visit. Thanks.
– Okay, that’s too much plugging. Sorry. But here’s the last one: Let’s talk more about sports and stuffs! You can follow me on Facebook and Twitter. Share a post or tweet a tweet! Thanks a lot! ‘Til the next edition of “the FJ Fury”, folks!
