By Ronnie Nathanielsz
Former WBC super flyweight champion Gerry Penalosa says he is confident Manny Pacquiao will KO undefeated but unknown Mexican Jorge Solis is their “Blaze of Glory” fight at the Alamadome in San Antonio, Texas on April 14.
In an overseas telephone conversation with Viva Sports/Manila Standard Today, Penalosa who dropped a twelve round unanimous decision after a gallant stand against WBO super bantamweight champion Daniel Ponce De Leon said Pacquiao was in “good condition and looked great in sparring.”
He said they watched a tape of Solis in his last fight in January and said “he didn’t have any power in his punches besides being slow and having no defense. ” Penalosa said Solis has no chance against Pacquiao and won’t be able to withstand the devastating power of the southpaw from General Santos City.
Penalosa said he wants a rematch with Ponce De Leon and was confident he could beat him in a rematch. Penalosa said “I much prefer a rematch” to a fight with bantamweight champion Jhonny Gonzalez because “I saw that Ponce De Leon hasn’t improved” since his last fight.
The 34 year old Penalosa said he though Ponce De Leon hit hard but found out he could take his best shots without trouble although he admitted he was “defensive in the early rounds.” Penalosa said he could “see his punches coming.” While he said he was in tremendous condition, Penalosa conceded he lost purely on the volume of punches throw by Ponce De Leon even though in terms of percentages between punches thrown and landed Penalosa was way ahead.
Golden Boy Promotions CEO Richard Schaefer said he had “no doubt that Penalosa would be world champion again” stating he put on “an unbelievable performance” against the WBO champion. Schaefer agreed that the Ponce De Leon fight scorecards “didn’t reflect the closeness of the fight and even if they had Gerry the winner you could not have really argued over it.” Schaefer said they were prepared to work on a rematch but that he felt it may be better for Penalosa to fight as a bantamweight.
