Zamboanga welcomes Peñalosa's final act

MANILA, Philippines - Zamboanga City Rep. Erbie Fabian hopes the farewell fight of Gerry Peñalosa against a tough Thai fighter on Sunday will open a door of opportunities to the City of Flowers.

A sports fan since he was a kid, Fabian is doing everything in his capacity to correct the wrong impression that the city is chaotic, and staging a sport event of this magnitude is one way of assuring the public that the city is an ideal tourist destination.

“Zamboanga is as vibrant as ever, so we are inviting boxing aficionados to visit our place and watch Gerry fight the most important battle of his career,” said the 53-year-old Fabian, who owns the boxing stable Blue Stallions. “We hope to make Zamboanga a new sports hub of Mindanao.”

The fight, according to Fabian, is very important not only to Zamboanga City but to the whole of Mindanao since he’s in search of a new hero that will someday follow in the footsteps of boxing icon Manny Pacquiao, who hails from Gen. Santos City.

“There are a lot of talents in the area and by staging this boxing tournament, we hope we can inspire others to work harder,” Fabian said.

“Boxing is only one of my advocacies and we have regular sporting events in the city like bowling, darts and cycling,” said Fabian. “In sports, you can never go wrong.”

The 38-year-old Peñalosa hopes to end his career with a win as he takes on Yodsaenkeng Kietmangmee of Thailand in a 10-round bantamweight clash at the Zamboanga Coliseum.

“Magpapa-alam na ako at magpasalamat sa mga tumulong (sa aking boxing career),” Peñalosa said.

Peñalosa, who turned pro in 1989, has a 54-8-2 win-loss-draw card with 36 knockouts and is raring to give fight fans the last chance to see him fight before an expected big crowd at the Zamboanga Coliseum.

Peñalosa reigned as World Boxing Council super-flyweight champion from February 1997 until August 1998 and later held the World Boxing Organization bantam title.