By Ronnie Nathanielsz

WHEN Filipino ring idol Manny Pacquiao fights Mexico’s Oscar Larios at the Araneta Coliseum on July 2, all attention will be focused on the main event, although longtime fight fans would like to find out whether former World Boxing Council super flyweight champion Gerry Peñalosa has what it takes to win a world title once again.

Generally speaking, however, Pacquiao is the attraction and no matter how the promoters try to hype the undercard as a Philippine-Mexican war, the credentials of the Mexicans don’t create much excitement or anticipation. From all indications, it looks like a sweep for the Filipinos.

The 33-year-old Peñalosa with a record of 49-5-2, with 33 knockouts is fighting another southpaw, 26-year-old Tomas Rojas, who has a fairly respectable record of 22-8 with 14 KOs. However, Rojas lost his last two fights. He dropped a split 10-round decision to Luis Maldonado on Oct. 29 last year and then lost a 10-round unanimous decision to Jose Nieves last April 22.

However, they were both credible opponents with Maldonado sporting an undefeated record of 32-0 with 25 KOs and Nieves also undefeated with 14-0-2 with 8 KOs. In fact, Maldonado lost by an eighth-round TKO in an International Boxing Federation flyweight title fight to hard-hitting champion Vic Darchinyan.

Super featherweight Jimrex Jaca, the 23-year-old southpaw, who is coming off a loss to Japan’s Nobuhito Honmo in an Oriental Pacific Boxing Federation title fight last May, has a record of 25-2-1 with 12 KOs. His opponent will be Hector Javier Marquez, a 32-year-old, who has a record of 28-16 with 21 KOs, but has lost seven of his last eight fights.

Marquez replaced the far more dangerous Adrian Valdez, who reportedly hurt his hand in a workout for the fight. Valdez had a record of 17-5-3 with 9 KOs and has fought some of the best, including former world champion Cesar Soto to whom he lost a majority decision in his last fight after winning by a first-round TKO in October 2004. Valdez also lost by a 12th-round TKO in an NABF title fight to Robert Guerrero and won by a third-round KO over Marquez, the new opponent of Jaca.

Philippine bantamweight champion Michael Domingo, who was a last-minute replacement for newest ring sensation and World Boxing Organization Asia-Pacific bantamweight champion Rey “Boom Boom” Bautista, who was hospitalized due to high fever caused by a virus infection, faces Alejandro Felix Montiel, a 35-year-old veteran with a record of 51-7 with 30 KOs.