Lopez by Ud, penalosa is like winky wright defensively. He is hard to knockout or land a clean punch.
I think Penalosa does have good power, but for the 115-118 pound division. Of course your punching power's effectivity decreases as you face naturally bigger guys who can better handle harder punches than your past opponents, but I assure you that Penalosa is no featherfisted boxer. Btw, I heard this story some years back. I heard that Gerry's actually right handed and they just converted him to be a southpaw, like his older brother and mid 1980s world flyweight champion, southpaw Dodie Boy Penalosa. He does have a tight looking and active right hand. :think
I have been trying to get hold of a Gerry Penalosa career DVD, but I would seriously doubt such a fighter would get that kind of exposure - even from hardcore collectors. It is a shame because his technical ability warrants exposure, and probably did during his physical peak, something I've not seen unfortunately. It's never too late. If he defeats Lopez, who is still inexperienced, young, and unproven to a degree, then he will become a three weight world champion. Considering how emotional he was after stopping the very good Johnny Gonzalez, easily his greatest ever victory, then winning championship gold on the 25th will be monumental for him, and rightly so. He is up against it in this fight, but in all fairness, I didn't give him much chance of beating Johnny Gonzalez, but I was happy for him to prove me wrong.
Well either he has no power or JuanMa has Mike Tyson strengh cause Pensacola was hittin Ponce with flush shots and Ponce never flinched
He did not flinch, he just got on his bike for the rest of the fight. The naturally bigger guy, considered the hardest hitter at Super Bantamweight, was the one on his bike fighting an old Super Flyweight. What does that indicate, truewarrior?
Izzy's practically a career 122 pound guy. Penalosa's best was at 115, I think. Naturally bigger opponent for him. I think Rafa Marquez at 118 would be a better match up than Vasquez. Or Tim Austin.
I think Gerry Penalosa's defensive capabilities, which can never be questioned, caters for him if he was to move up in weight. I think Ponce hits much harder than Vasquez, and that was an extremely close and competitive affair. Obviously Izzy has a better skill set than Ponce, but I don't even see him landing cleanly too often on Gerry.
For a second there I forgot about Tim Austin. My first thoughts were Ray Austin, the HW I was about to say how does he win that?
Izzy's skill set would probably carry him to a close but 12 round decision something akin to 8-4 or maybe a 7-5 win. That said he would make Izzy look bad. That's what makes JuanMa vs Pensalosa (Lennox Lewis said it so it's true) such an intriguing fight. It's the greatest thing since sliced bread against a phenomenal defensive fighter who can cancel out all his best skills.
penalosa is probably the best technical boxer that the philippines has produced. and having knocked out 36 out of his opponents should put to rest any claim that he does not have power. he has power in both hands and has the best defensive skill set in any fighter i have seen. It is so difficult to hit the guy cleanly since be blocks them with his hands just after throwing a great combination of his own. juanma is young and powerful. just as ponce de leon and gonzales were, just as cho in jo and that japanese champion who dethroned him. there is one clear blueprin to defeat penalosa and that is to jab jab clinch him a few times and run circles around him. to engage him toe to toe all night would be suicide in my opinion. look at how funny it was seeing ponce de leon ride his bike the whole night after tasting gerrys punches and penalosa looked like a midget compared to him. if juanma wants a surefire victory, he should stick to that blue print. look at that happened to vorapin and jhonny gonzales. despite being old, he still has power and enough tricks in his arsenal to take this one. casamayor knocked out katsidis. hopkins knocked out pavlik. advances in science now allows fighters to have longer careers. having said that, juanma by unanimous decision but I do not see a blow-out like 110-117. but a KO will always be a distinct possibility.
I will be the first person to admit I was wrong, but a lot of people will be surprised with Gerry Penalosa vs Juan Manuel Lopez.
Honestly I thought Ponce had no answer for Penalose, he wasnt going down and Ponce was getting clearly outboxed for most part of the fight. I just think Ponce busted a De La Hoya since he was ahead in the cards. But I based my opinion based on the fact that Penalosa wasnt able to knock him down so most likely the same will happen with the bigger Juanma
Great post. In fairness to Gerry, the word on the street is that a lot o those losses could have could either way. With his style, I'm inclined to believe that was probably the case more often than not. If you've seen his losses, perhaps you can clear that up for me.
Or Johnny Tapia. :yep Penalosa needs an active, come forward fighter to be most effective. He really has problems with tall, lean, olympic boxer type jabbers. I'm not saying he'll definitely win against Tapia or Austin, etc, but he needs an agressive dance partner to shine better.