By Rey Danseco
With or without television coverage, former WBC super-flyweight champion Gerry Peñalosa will fight on June 10 in the main event of a card being held in the National Guard Armory in Lynn, Massachusetts. Peñalosa, coming off a seventh-round stoppage of previously unbeaten Bangsaen Sithpraprom of Thailand, in his comeback fight in November, was already booked to fight twice this year. Peñalosa was booked for May 7, and a May 27 rematch against Hurtado Arendo in Pompano Beach, Florida.
Peñalosa will square off against Colombian Felix Murillo, who replaces his compatriot Reynaldo Hurtado Arendo.
Murillo, who is based in Miami, Florida, is two-years younger then the 33-year old Peñalosa. It should be a tactical encounter as both men are southpaws.
Murillo does not match Peñalosa in experience when comparing his 15-3 win-loss record to Peñalosa's 48-5-2 record with 33 KOs. Peñalosa fought in nine world super-flyweight championship bouts, eight times for the WBC title and once for the WBF. Peñalosa has also been involved in several bouts for various regional and international championship titles under the WBC, IBF and WBA.
It will be Peñalosa’s fourth fight in the United States since he gave one-time IBF title challenger Hipolito Saucedo of Mexico a boxing lesson over 10 rounds at the Foxwoods Resort in Mashantucket, Connecticut on Aug. 5, 1997.
Peñalosa also scored an impressive 2nd round knockout of Ramon Jose Hurtado of Panama for the vacant NABA super-flyweight title. It was part of a boxing event put together by his current promoter M & M Sports and held at the Grand Casino in Biloxi, Mississippi, on June 6, 1999.
The 5-foot-4 Filipino’s other appearance in the United States was a unanimous decision against Mexico’s Oscar Andrade over 12 rounds to capture the NABF super-flyweight title in Sacramento-native Don Chargin’s event held at the Feather Falls Casino in Oroville, California on May 24, 2002.
But he also showed his skills in Honolulu, Hawaii where he defended the WBC International super-flyweight belt against Japanese Seiji Tanaka. This bout took place before his third failed attempt to regain the WBC super-flyweight throne against Masamori Tokuyama in 2002.
After his arrival in the United States on February 8, Peñalosa started training under 2002 “Trainer of the Year” Buddy McGirt, a former two-division world champion from Orlando, Florida.
