By Ronnie Nathanielsz
WBO bantamweight champion Gerry Penalosa is eyeing three more fights before he decides to retire and trainer Freddie Roach believes that if Penalosa “really wants to do it, he can go on for a longer period of time.”
Roach said Penalosa was like 42 year old Bernard Hopkins because he is “very disciplined about his lifestyle and lives very clean. It’s the same with Gerry. He could do this for a long time if he wants to.”
Roach noted that the first he worked with Penalosa was for the WBC super flyweight title fight with Japan-based North Korean Masamori Tokuyama which Penalosa lost by a controversial decision. But Roach noted that at the time of the Tokuyama fight Penalosa “wasn’t quite the same guy he is now.”
Roach said at present Penalosa is “very good, has a spark behind him now and enjoys working out and getting in shape.” The trainer extraordinaire said he loves watching Penalosa box because “he is to me the James Toney of the Philippines. He is so calm and cool and nothing fazes him. He is just beautiful to watch.”
Roach said he believes that if he was in Penalosa’s corner when he dropped a twelve round decision to WBO super bantamweight champion Daniel Ponce De Leon, he would have won. Roach noted the reason Penalosa lost was because he wasn’t aggressive enough in the second half of the fight.
Roach said Ponce De Leon has indicated his willingness to come to the Philippines to fight Penalosa in a rematch if the price is right and the giant Philippine broadcast network ABS-CBN is looking at the possibility of staging the fight sometime early next year although there is nothing definite.
Penalosa who had expressed his eagerness to exact revenge told Viva Sports/Manila Standard Today he would first like to fight Mexican firebrand Jorge Arce followed by Ponce De Leon and end his career with a fight against Israel Vasquez. Right now Penalosa is back in training and waiting for Roach to arrange a fight for him.