By Ronnie Nathanielsz

 

Former world super flyweight champion Gerry Penalosa has looked great in training at the Wild Card Gym of Freddie Roach prompting veteran Macka Foley, a boxing historian who oversees affairs at Roach’s Los Angeles training facility to predict that Penalosa will knock out WBO super bantamweight champion Daniel Ponce De Leon “in the later rounds.”

 

Journalist Winchell Campos in an email to Viva Sports/Manila Standard Today quoted Foley as saying “ I hope he wins by late stoppage so that his fate will not fall on the judges hands.”

 

Campos said that according to Foley, Penalosa was “one of the best boxers who has ever trained here in the gym and he is next to James Toney up there.”

 

Campos reported that many time world title contender Julio “Yambito” Gamboa who is Penalosa’s chief sparring partner starting last Monday summed up how he respected the Filipino southpaw in one word – “brains,” referring to Penalosa’s controlled aggression.

 

Penalosa told Campos he was going to push himself to the limit. He said “I have trained harder than ever and I want to fulfill this dream of becoming a world champion again.” Everytime Penalosa spars most boxers at the Wild Card Gym stop their activity to watch him spar and give out a boxing lesson, according to the Los Angeles based Filipino journalist.

 

Penalosa battles the big and strong Daniel Ponce De Leon on March 17 at the Mandalay Bay Resort & Casino in Las Vegas. In response to fears that Penalosa would have a hard time moving up two  weight divisions to fight Ponce De Leon, Golden Boy Promotions vice president Eric Gomez told Viva Sports/Manila Standard Today “Gerry wanted this fight and he honestly believes he can win.”