Three years ago, Michael Jordan announced his retirement from pro basketball and said he was 99.9 percent sure he would never come back. This season, Jordan is returning to play for the Washington Wizards in the National Basketball Association – on that slim 0.1 percent chance.
So Peñalosa’s 10 percent chance of continuing his pro boxing career doesn’t seem to make the eventuality too remote.
He still loves the game, says Peñalosa, and what fighter wants to retire? But after losing a unanimous 12-round decision to World Boxing Council (WBC) superflyweight champion Masamori Tokuyama in Yokohama last Monday, Penalosa isn’t sure what to do.
Peñalosa says his manager Rudy Salud is stepping down. He can’t imagine fighting without the man whom he loves like a father. Salud says it’s time to hand over Peñalosa to someone else — someone who might bring him the luck to recapture the world crown.
Salud negotiated two title cracks for Peñalosa. And twice, he was frustrated. Salud calls it a lack of chemistry.
Peñalosa discloses that Salud promised he will never leave his side, no matter what, even if he is no longer his manager. He adds that Salud’s contract is good up to June 2003 but Japanese promoter Akihiko Honda has offered to take it over.
Honda’s bid includes at least a $10,000 signing bonus – Salud says it could be more. Whatever Honda’s signing bonus is, Salud will match it as an additional gift to Peñalosa. Honda’s offer covers three tune-up fights, in Japan and the US, and a shot at a world title, possibly the World Boxing Association (WBA) junior bantamweight diadem held by Japanese Celes Kobayashi, within 1 1/2 years plus an option for a two-year renewal.
Salud has spoken to Peñalosa’s wife Goody about Honda’s offer – not the fighter himself, not yet. He wants Peñalosa to think things over for one to two weeks before they meet on what to do next.
According to Salud, Peñalosa must look for three things in a manager — connections, sincerity, and a family relationship which transcends a boxer-manager tieup.
Peñalosa says his father Carl advised him to go on fighting if he still wants to be a champion but to retire if his only motivation is money. If Peñalosa’s heart is no longer in the game, then it’s time to give it up.
Peñalosa isn’t thinking about boxing at the moment. He lent all his boxing equipment — gloves, shoes, bags, punchmitts, whatever else – to an amateur boxing club that’s being formed in his San Carlos City hometown. He’s busy moving into a condo unit that he bought for his family on Roxas Boulevard.
Peñalosa says he’s depressed and ashamed to walk around because he feels he let down his countrymen by losing to Tokuyama. He shuttles only between his room at the Doña Josefa Apartment on Harrison and the unit on Roxas.
His face still shows the tell-tale signs of battle. He sports six fresh cuts — all on butts — and a black right eye. The scalp wound wasn’t stitched and is shaped into a "J" running about three inches.
Peñalosa says he thinks he did enough to beat Tokuyama. But no excuses. He’s not complaining — he realizes a challenger on foreign soil must be extraordinarily dominant to win a decision.
Peñalosa reveals that he didn’t put the pressure in the first four rounds because he was scared of getting butted — under WBC rules, if the fight is stopped inside four rounds because of an accidental butt, it is declared a draw. Then in the fifth, Tokuyama opened a cut on his left eyebrow with a butt. In the sixth, a series of butts opened three cuts on his right eyebrow. In the seventh, another butt opened a cut on his scalp and a second cut on his left eyebrow.
Tokuyama’s repeated butting put Peñalosa on the defensive. Peñalosa couldn’t attack the body consistently because Tokuyama would bend down — head up front — when he got hit in the midsection. The butts also left Peñalosa groggy. Starting the ninth, Peñalosa could hardly see because the blood flowing from his scalp wound entered his eyes.
Peñalosa says Tokuyama, a karate black belter, knew how to use his head and wasn’t particularly strong or quick. If only referee Larry O’Connell did his job, Peñalosa says the fight would’ve taken a different turn. Without deductions, Tokuyama didn’t stop butting and turned Penalosa’s face into a crimson mask.
Peñalosa says he was well-trained for the bout —0 he chose sparmates who hit and run like Tokuyama. His diet was perfect. What he didn’t count on was Tokuyama’s dirty tactics which were tolerated by O’Connell.
Peñalosa insists he’s not finished as a fighter. But whether or not his heart is still in the game is something that only he can answer.