By Ronnie Nathanielsz

GOLDEN Boy Promotions’ Oscar de la Hoya said they are working out details of a rematch between World Boxing Organization bantamweight champion Gerry Peñalosa and WBO super bantamweight champion Daniel Ponce de Leon to be staged in the Philippines next year.

In an overseas telephone conversation with Viva Sports/Standard Today, De la Hoya said: “Obviously, we want to do a fight in the Philippines with Peñalosa and Ponce de Leon and we are shooting for February next year.”

At the same time, the Golden Boy said they had an open slot in the Floyd Mayweather Jr.-Ricky Hatton fight on Dec. 8. But despite reports that the Peñalosa-Ponce de Leon rematch would be on the undercard, De la Hoya said it won’t happen and the Mexican will see action against another opponent, who has not been named yet.

De la Hoya said he can understand why Peñalosa wants a rematch with Ponce de Leon. “It was such a great fight the first time and Gerry Peñalosa is a very experienced and well-skilled fighter.”

The three judges scored the fight in a lopsided manner, but many boxing writers and fans said it was much closer and that the Filipino had shown he could outbox the hard-hitting champion, even though Peñalosa had to move up in weight.

The owner of the world’s premier promotional company alongside Bob Arum’s Top Rank Promotions said a title fight featuring world-ranked super flyweight Z “The Dream” Gorres was also one of the possibilities. “We’re going to continue working with the Filipino fighters because we believe in them and Gorres is one of them.”