Juanma stops Peñalosa in nine

CEBU, Philippines - In a heart-rending defeat that may force him into retirement, WBO bantamweight champion Gerry "Fearless" Peñalosa lost by ninth round TKO to WBO junior featherweight titlist Juan Manuel "Juanma" Lopez yesterday at the Coliseo Rubén Rodríguez in Bayamón, Puerto Rico.

Lopez put up a masterful performance right from the opening bell, battering Peñalosa on all range. In the brutal ninth round, the Puerto Rican hard-puncher pounded Peñalosa with a flurry of heads and body shots, prompting Peñalosa's trainer Freddie Roach to throw in the towel before the start of round 10.

It was Lopez's 13th consecutive win by knockout. Overall, he stayed undefeated in 25 fights garnished with 23KOs, while Peñalosa dropped to 54-7-2 spiked with 36KOs.

Humble in victory, Lopez was all praise for Peñalosa who have shown great courage in the face of his relentless offensive.

"Penalosa is a very tough fighter as I fully expected him to be. This was a very hard earned victory. My promoters will decide what is next for me and I will be ready for whoever they put in front of me," said Lopez in a report by fightnews.com.

Peñalosa, in return, congratulated Lopez for a well-deserved triumph. "I gave my absolute best tonight. Lopez was the better man tonight and I congratulate him," said the vanquished Filipino fighter in the same internet report.

Roach, for his part, hailed Lopez as the best warrior at the super bantamweight (122 pounds) division at this point of time.

"I thought Lopez would slow down after the 4th round since he threw so many punches but he didn’t. I had told Gerry going into the 9th round that if he wasn’t able to hurt Lopez then I was going to stop the fight because he needed to hurt him or knock Lopez out at that point. Lopez I think is the best fighter at 122 pounds," said Roach, who also trains Manny Pacquiao for Pacman's May superfight against Ricy Hatton in Las Vegas. – EBV (THE FREEMAN)