By Ronnie Nathanielsz
Trainer Freddie Roach, who was described as the best in the business by Top Rank promoter Bob Arum following his prized possession Manny Pacquiao’s demolition of Oscar De La Hoya last December 6, wants WBO bantamweight champion Gerry Penalosa to train at his Wild Card Gym in Los Angeles.
In an overseas telephone conversation with insidesports.ph, Standard Today and Viva Sports, Roach said that Arum and Golden Boy Promotions CEO Richard Schaefer had agreed to offer Penalosa a title shot at WBO super bantamweight champion Juan Manuel “Juanma” Lopez and already had an April 4 date either for a fight in New York or Las Vegas.
Roach confirmed the plan saying “Gerry told me he wants that fight and I’m waiting to hear back from him.”
Roach said that if he agrees to the Lopez fight then “I don’t think he has time to train (Nonito) Donaire. I want Gerry to get out here right away because Lopez is a real tough fight for him.”
Arum informed us on Thursday morning (Manila Time) that Golden Boy Promotions CEO Richard Schaefer had asked vice president and international matchmaker Eric Gomez to reach out to Penalosa and “apparently Penalosa decided he wants the fight and he’s not unreasonable and hopefully we can make it.” Arum said the task was now up to Schaefer and Gomez to seal the deal.
Arum said the Penalosa-Lopez fight has to fall into place before several other things could happen. Under the plan he laid out for us, Penalosa would relinquish his WBO 118 pound title and pave the way for mandatory challenger Erik Morel to fight WBO super flyweight champion Fernando Montiel for the vacant title since Arum said Montiel could no longer make the super flyweight limit.
If this happens Arum said Donaire would fight Jose “Carita” Lopez, the WBO No.2 for the super flyweight title relinquished by Montiel.
Talking about Penalosa’s chances against the sensational “Juanma” Lopez who won the title with a stunning first round KO of the menacing Daniel Ponce De Leon , Arum said “who knows what may happen. Lopez is a great fighter but with Penalosa’s experience he has a chance.”
Arum said “if Gerry wins this fight he can make a lot of money, absolutely,” in future fights.
The respected trainer Roach earlier brushed off the mandatory bantamweight title defense against Erik Morel which will go to a Purse Bid on January 12 and which nobody has expressed any real interest in so far.
Roach agreed with what Arum told us earlier and that is that Penalosa would make much more money in a fight against Lopez than he would against Morel which Arum said nobody in the US was interested in.
Roach said he liked Penalosa’s attitude towards a Lopez fight saying “Gerry told me he can beat the guy and he wants to fight him.”
When we informed Penalosa about the offer for a title shot at “Juanma” Lopez on April 4 in New York or Las Vegas he told us, “I like that very much” even as he indicated his readiness to give up the Morel title defense fight.
Penalosa at the same time conceded “I like it better training at the Wild Card. Its so much better with Freddie.”
