Peñalosa tells Juanma: "Be ready"

CEBU, Philippines - WBO bantamweight champion Gerry "Fearless" Peñalosa formally sealed a grand showdown with WBO super bantamweight titlist Juan Manuel "Juanma" Lopez after easily punching his way to a lopsided unanimous decision victory over Mexican German Meraz in the main event of the other night's "Battle of the Best Bantamweights" card witnessed by a jampacked crowd at the Cebu Coliseum. The official scores were 100-89, 100-89, and 99-90.

Peñalosa immediately called on Lopez moments after he got out of the ring, telling his Mexican rival to train hard and be ready for their April 25 battle in San Juan, Puerto Rican.

"Be ready," Peñalosa quickly replied when asked on his message to Lopez. "It's been my ultimate dream to win three world titles in different weight divisions. If I can achieve that, then maybe it's time for me to consider retirement," added the former WBC super flyweight champion.

In a swansong of a fight for him on Philippine soil, Peñalosa tried so hard to give the Cebuanos a highly entertaining show.

He failed. Not because he performed below par, but because of an opponent who obviously came to survive, not to fight. For 10 rounds, Meraz literally turned the squared arena into a dancefloor as he kept on waltzing around, making if difficult for Peñalosa to land his targets with deadly precision.

The only drama of the rather boring match was when Peñalosa landed a smashing one-two punch to the punch that sent Meraz down at the seat of the pants. The rest of the bout was uneventful mainly because of Meraz's refusal to exchange blows with his aggressive foe.

"I'm very sorry to my Cebuano fans. I wanted to give them a good fight, but I can't do it by myself. My opponent had no interest to fight me," said Peñalosa, who improved his record 54-6 spiked with 36KOs. Meraz slipped to 24-8-2 with 11KOs.

Overall, Peñalosa was satisfied with his showing, saying that it was a good tune-up for the Lopez bout.

"I haven't fought for a while and I'm happy that I lasted 10 rounds. It was a good preparation for Lopez," said the 36-year-old southpaw from Negros Occidental.

There's no room for Peñalosa to rest as he heads backs to Baguio City this Wednesday to start his extensive training regimen for Lopez.

Brave Heart Fighters Shine

Although Peñalosa was the headliner of the slambang event, rising stars Rolando Magbanua and Jundy Maraon of the North Cotabato-based Braveheart Boxing Gym came to be the stars of the night with their earth-shaking performances.

The flashy Magbanua installed himself as a legitimate world title contender by stopping Mexico's Jose Angel Cota at 1:08 round six to snatch the interim WBO Oriental bantamweight belt. He bombarded Cota with all kind of punches, forcing the Mexican's corner to throw in the towel.

The other revelation was Jundy Maraon, who dethroned Jason Egera with a frightening third-round knockout to emerge as the new WBO Asia-Pacific bantamweight crown-holder.

Maraon planted a powerful left hand to the face that outrightly sent Egera sprawling on the canvass, prompting referee Teddy Alivio to wisely intervene and wave off the match at 1:56 of round three. It took Egera several minutes to regain his senses with an aid of an oxygen tank. Ringside physician Jose Unabia later cleared him to be out of danger.

Glenn Porras, another promising Mindanao brawler, also wowed the crowd by knocking downThai Daothon Sithsoey two times en route to a fine TKO win at 2:26 for the very first round.

"It's a good thing that we exposed our fighters from Mindanao before a huge Cebuano crowd. I believe it will further boost their morale," said North Cotabato Vice Governor Manny Piñol, who co-promoted the event with Sammy G. Gello-ani of SGG Sports Promotions in partnership with giant TV network ABS-CBN and the city government of Cebu.

The rest of the results:Edrin Dapudong won by unanimous decision over Ruther del Castillo, Lorenzo "Ensoy" Villanueva floored Joy Pol at 1:56 of the second round, Richard Betos flattened Mike Romulo at 1:35 of round six, Jestoni Pepito prevailed over Edison Serrano by split decision, Rommel Asenjo decked Marlon Villanueva at 2:23 of round three, and Jermie Jabel triumphed over Manny Talisic by unanimous verdict.

The only letdown among the visiting Mindanao warriors was Glenn Gonzales, who lost to Jose Ocampo by unanimous decision. – THE FREEMAN