By Sammy Rozenberg
Team Philippines prevailed over Team Mexico by a score of 5-1 to win the 2007 Boxing World Cup at the Arco Arena in Sacramento, California. Oscar De La Hoya's Golden Boy Promotions created the event by putting together six exciting battles that matched some of the best fighters from the Philippines against some of the best from Mexico.
The arena was loaded with a wild crowd of flag waving Mexican and Filipino boxing fans that cheered on their countrymen.
The opener saw the Philippines take an early lead with Diosdado Gabi (30-3-1, 21 KOs) winning an eight-round unanimous decision over Jose Angel Beranza (30-10-2, 25 KOs) in a battle of junior bantamweight bout. All three of the official judges scored the fight 80-72 for Gabi.
Michael Domingo (32-14-2, 12 KOs) gave the Philippines their second win of the night with an upset six-round decision over previously unbeaten junior featherweight Miguel "Mickey Mouse" Roman (21-1, 15 KOs). The pro-Mexican crowd was stunned as all three judges scored the fight 60-54 for Domingo.
The Filipino crowd erupted when undefeated AJ "Bazooka" Banal (14-0-1, 11 KOs) stopped Jorge Cardenas (9-4-3, 6 KOs) in the third round to give the Philippines a 3-0 lead. Cardenas was unable to continue after he badly twisted his right ankle while going down from a Banal punch.
Z Gorres (27-2-1, 15 KOs), coming off a controversial split-decision loss to Fernando Montiel, helped the Philippines clinch the Boxing World Cup by stopping former WBC junior flyweight champion Eric Ortiz (26-7-1, 17 KOs) in the eight-round. The bout was also an IBF junior bantamweight eliminator.
During the eight-round, Ortiz suffered a deep cut above his left eye, from a punch, and the ring doctor advised the referee to stop the fight, giving Gorres the TKO win.
In another shocker, 35-year-old Filipino veteran Gerry Penalosa (52-6-2, 35 KOs), badly behind on all three scorecards, captures the WBO bantamweight title by knocking out heavy favorite Jhonny Gonzalez (34-6, 29 KOs) with a crippling body shot to the liver in the seventh round.
After being seemingly outboxed for the first six rounds, Penalosa landed a lottery shot to the body that sent Gonzalez down in serious pain. Gonzalez stayed down for the full count as Penalosa was overwhelmed with emotion over the big win.
Prior to the fight, Penalosa was possibly looking at retirement if he lost. Now he's in the mix for some big fights in a talent-rich weight class. A real good fight for Penalosa would be against popular Mexican fighter Jorge Arce. Matching the two of them would make for an exciting affair. At this point the Philippines took a 5-0 lead against Mexico.
Gonzalez, only 25-years-old, has now been stopped in two of his last three fights and has to reevaluate his career. He complained of serious problems making weight before the bout and will likely move up to the super bantamweight division.
In the main event, Mexico was able to save some face when WBO super bantamweight champion Daniel Ponce De Leon (32-1, 29 KOs) crushed undefeated Rey "Boom Boom" Bautista (23-1, 17 KOs) in the first round.
After coming off a lackluster decision win over Penalosa, Ponce De Leon was all business as he came out throwing bombs from the start and had Bautista on the defensive. A combination that was punctuated by a right hand to the chin sent Bautista down and he was barely able to stand as he made it to his feet. Another serious of punches easily sent Bautista down for the second time as the referee stopped the fight to prevent any serious injury.
Bautista, a 20-year-old prodigy, was hailed as the next big star of the Philippines. He's young enough to make the proper adjustments to be a very successful fighter. He simply got caught by a big punch, hopefully he can mentally overcome the loss.
Ponce De Leon pulls off the biggest win of his career in a very hot division. Fights against stablemate Israel Vazquez and Rafael Marquez are possibilities that equal excitement and decent paydays. He's willing to fight anyone that Golden Boy Promotions puts in his path, and what's better than that?
