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Sam Soliman whipped Winky Wright; Carlos Baldomir outhustled Floyd Mayweather Jr.; Oscar De La Hoya wisely danced the last four rounds against Felix Trinidad. And Evander Holyfield was jobbed when he drew with Lennox Lewis in their first match. If anyone agrees with these statements, they probably also think that WBO super bantamweight champion Ponce de Leon deservedly won 34 of 36 rounds on the scorecards of Nelson Vazquez, Chuck Giampa, and Dave Moretti when he faced Gerry Penalosa on Saturday night in Las Vegas.
I will say it right off: I think Penalosa beat Ponce De Leon, and I have the score to back it up. I had it 115-113 Penalosa, a much more credible score than any given by the judges. This score is in agreement or near agreement with many of the writers who have already chimed in on this fight. Our own editor in chief, Doug Fischer had it 116-112; many more had similar scores. Some may protest that ESPN’s Dan Rafael and many other ringsiders had it 115-113 De Leon, so how can we be in agreement? Only two rounds separate us. We were in the same ballpark.
I’m sure writers like Rafael who had it close but for de Leon could have a discussion with me about it and agree that maybe we saw a few rounds differently because of our own biases for styles, technique, or what have you. But I couldn’t have such a conversation with any of the judges who scored 34 of 36 rounds for de Leon. It would be like arguing with a guy who said it was great that Hamlet made it through everything in the fifth act and was finally made king.
What was the deal with the judges? Maybe they thought Penalosa was an old and used up has-been being beaten by an up and coming superstar waiting for better things. Maybe they thought that because almost all Penalosa’s fights were in Asia none of them were real victories. Maybe they thought that since he lost the WBC title nearly ten years ago and couldn’t gain it back in three tries, he really was just another body brought in from the East to fatten the record of a North American based boxer. In sum, maybe they thought that he was just another run of the mill pug who had an alphabet title at one time.
If they thought that they were wrong. Coming into the fight against Ponce de Leon, Penalosa had five losses and over fifty wins on his record and an age of 34. But what went down in four of those losses shows what a great fighter he was and given his performance against Ponce De Leon, still is.
Those four losses came against two Korean opponents: In Joo Cho and Masamori Tokuyama, the two mainstays of the WBC junior bantamweight championship since 1998. After winning the WBC title from Hiroshi Kawashima in Japan and defending it three times, Penalosa was challenged in Korea by undefeated In Joo Cho, a good boxer, though with a skittish style. In their first fight, Penalosa lost a split decision that would have been a draw if one round was scored differently. A year later in early 2000, he again went to Korea and lost another split decision to Cho.
After Tokuyama took care of Cho twice to win the title, the second fight via vicious knockout, Penalosa faced the ethnic Korean Tokuyama fighting out of his country of residence, Japan. These fights were just as close as the Cho bouts. Penalosa lost both fights in Japan via razor-thin split decision. They were so razor-thin that if one round had been changed in their 2000 bout, it’s a draw; if one round were changed in their 2001 bout, it’s a win for Penalosa. If Penalosa had fought anywhere else than those fighters’ home turfs, he might very well have said he hadn’t lost since 1992. Those are the four losses that compelled HBO to proclaim loud and clear that Penalosa was 0-4 in his last four title fights; hence, they insisted, he was clearly a fighter who has stayed around too long.
When the Ponce de Leon-Gerry Penalosa fight begins, Ponce de Leon has the edge in the first round, ripping shots to the body and using an effective right hook under Penalosa’s elbow. It is a typical round for Ponce de Leon. But in the second round, something changes. Penalosa shows that he used the first round to take the measure of Ponce de Leon. He begins throwing counters and at the end of the second catches Ponce de Leon with a hook that staggers him. By the fourth, Ponce de Leon, the take no prisoners attacker, is now backing up. By the seventh his eye is puffing. And when he delivers his windmill punches they may land on the scorecards but few land on Penalosa. They hit gloves and air, and like a player figuring out the trick to a video game, Penalosa times them again and again.
If one moment defines the fight up to this point, it is an HBO replay from round six. Both fighters exchange left hands but Penalosa’s gets there first. They follow up with right hooks upstairs. Penalosa remembers his fundamentals and moves his left hand up to the side of his face while Ponce de Leon just watches and waits, preparing as Teddy Atlas says, to take a picture. Ponce de Leon’s shot hits a glove while Penalosa’s hits clean, snapping Ponce de Leon’s head back.
In the final three rounds, Ponce de Leon, the super bantamweight who could fight as a featherweight, starts running from Penalosa, the one-time junior bantamweight champion. Penalosa keeps coming and Ponce de Leon keeps backing up while throwing an ineffective jab. This is no Samuel Peter showing off his boxing skills in the twelfth in his second fight against James Toney. This is a fighter in full survival mode.
After the final bell rang, I am so convinced that Penalosa won that when the scores are read, my first thought is, how could the judges have it so clearly in Penalosa’s favor? After all, I only scored rounds 2, 5, 7, 8, 9, 11, and 12 for Pensola. But when I hear which name owns the perfect scores my heart sinks and I remember poor Steve Forbes who had what I thought was a winning effort taken away from him in the previous bout that evening. My notes immediately after the Forbes decision was announced were the following: “a lot of close rounds because of contrasting styles but to give Forbes only two rounds is nuts.” If it makes the two judges in that fight nuts, what does it make the three who judged the Penalosa fight? The crowd attending the fight boos the decision for their favorite, Ponce de Leon.
I know that judges will have their explanations. They might say it was a matter of styles, that they prefer the more active fighter. If this is so, they are as good at their jobs as movie critics detesting horror movies but reviewing “Halloween” anyway. They might say Ponce de Leon threw the more effective punches. If this is so, they ignored his impression of Muhammad Ali’s hand-held rubber gorilla each time Penalosa popped him with a hook. They might say Ponce de Leon’s punches were harder. If this is so, they closed their eyes to his eyes which were puffy and swollen by the seventh. They might say Ponce de Leon was more consistent throwing punches throughout the twelve rounds. If this is so, they failed to note Ponce De Leon changed his style in the last few rounds. In the last three rounds, this tough, knock ‘em dead, take no prisoners brawler turned into Cory Spinks minus the effective jab. If these judges were movie critics, their favorite movie would be “Eyes wide Shut.”
One way to make up for this decision could be to give Penalosa another chance against Ponce de Leon, but nothing anyone can do will ever make up for the injustice done on Saturday. In the super bantamweights division, at the age of 34, Penalosa having another night like that is slim. An old fighter usually has trouble getting up for a rematch. James Toney tried to rectify a wrong when he rematched with Samuel Peter, but he was just too old to get ready for another tussle with the younger fighter. Sadly, Penalosa will probably never have the chance to show his skills like that again. He will probably never have another chance to move in for the big money fight. He will probably never have another chance for a title until he’s really a washed up old man. He will probably never face another fighter like Ponce de Leon who, with his wide punches and his determination to come forward and his predictability, was simply made for Penalosa on Saturday night.
If the scoring went they way it should have, think of what that would mean to boxing in the lighter weights. We would have a rematch pitting the old warrior Penalosa, the man who knows all the tricks in the book, against the young Ponce de Leon. Ponce de Leon would be quoted as saying, “I learned a lot from that fight, he’s a master. But now I will do it differently. I know what to do.” Penalosa would sit and smile like old Archie Moore, saying “I went back to the Philippines and visited an old witch doctor who gave me the potion for youth. That’s why I won and why I will do it again.” Attention would have been drawn to the lower weights with Vazquez, Larios, Arce, Marquez the Smaller, and everyone around there. The rematch would’ve sold; it would’ve made money for the Golden Boy; and it would’ve given Penalosa the rewards for his great showing.
Many old fighters have recently have had breakout fights – Hopkins and Pastrana, for example. And Penalosa’s breakout against Ponce de Leon was special like Hopkins’s was. He showed the sweet science, the craft of the sport that makes the ultimate boxing showdown, brawler against boxer, so special. It was the kind of show that boxing fans attending Barrera-Marquez wanted to go along with the main event. But what happened? Instead of turning them on with the compelling spectacle of the sweet science, it compelled them to boo a decision that was not just.
Sam Soliman whipped Winky Wright; Carlos Baldomir outhustled Floyd Mayweather Jr.; Oscar De La Hoya wisely danced the last four rounds against Felix Trinidad. And Evander Holyfield was jobbed when he drew with Lennox Lewis in their first match. If anyone agrees with these statements, they probably also think that WBO super bantamweight champion Ponce de Leon deservedly won 34 of 36 rounds on the scorecards of Nelson Vazquez, Chuck Giampa, and Dave Moretti when he faced Gerry Penalosa on Saturday night in Las Vegas.
I will say it right off: I think Penalosa beat Ponce De Leon, and I have the score to back it up. I had it 115-113 Penalosa, a much more credible score than any given by the judges. This score is in agreement or near agreement with many of the writers who have already chimed in on this fight. Our own editor in chief, Doug Fischer had it 116-112; many more had similar scores. Some may protest that ESPN’s Dan Rafael and many other ringsiders had it 115-113 De Leon, so how can we be in agreement? Only two rounds separate us. We were in the same ballpark.
I’m sure writers like Rafael who had it close but for de Leon could have a discussion with me about it and agree that maybe we saw a few rounds differently because of our own biases for styles, technique, or what have you. But I couldn’t have such a conversation with any of the judges who scored 34 of 36 rounds for de Leon. It would be like arguing with a guy who said it was great that Hamlet made it through everything in the fifth act and was finally made king.
What was the deal with the judges? Maybe they thought Penalosa was an old and used up has-been being beaten by an up and coming superstar waiting for better things. Maybe they thought that because almost all Penalosa’s fights were in Asia none of them were real victories. Maybe they thought that since he lost the WBC title nearly ten years ago and couldn’t gain it back in three tries, he really was just another body brought in from the East to fatten the record of a North American based boxer. In sum, maybe they thought that he was just another run of the mill pug who had an alphabet title at one time.
If they thought that they were wrong. Coming into the fight against Ponce de Leon, Penalosa had five losses and over fifty wins on his record and an age of 34. But what went down in four of those losses shows what a great fighter he was and given his performance against Ponce De Leon, still is.
Those four losses came against two Korean opponents: In Joo Cho and Masamori Tokuyama, the two mainstays of the WBC junior bantamweight championship since 1998. After winning the WBC title from Hiroshi Kawashima in Japan and defending it three times, Penalosa was challenged in Korea by undefeated In Joo Cho, a good boxer, though with a skittish style. In their first fight, Penalosa lost a split decision that would have been a draw if one round was scored differently. A year later in early 2000, he again went to Korea and lost another split decision to Cho.
After Tokuyama took care of Cho twice to win the title, the second fight via vicious knockout, Penalosa faced the ethnic Korean Tokuyama fighting out of his country of residence, Japan. These fights were just as close as the Cho bouts. Penalosa lost both fights in Japan via razor-thin split decision. They were so razor-thin that if one round had been changed in their 2000 bout, it’s a draw; if one round were changed in their 2001 bout, it’s a win for Penalosa. If Penalosa had fought anywhere else than those fighters’ home turfs, he might very well have said he hadn’t lost since 1992. Those are the four losses that compelled HBO to proclaim loud and clear that Penalosa was 0-4 in his last four title fights; hence, they insisted, he was clearly a fighter who has stayed around too long.
When the Ponce de Leon-Gerry Penalosa fight begins, Ponce de Leon has the edge in the first round, ripping shots to the body and using an effective right hook under Penalosa’s elbow. It is a typical round for Ponce de Leon. But in the second round, something changes. Penalosa shows that he used the first round to take the measure of Ponce de Leon. He begins throwing counters and at the end of the second catches Ponce de Leon with a hook that staggers him. By the fourth, Ponce de Leon, the take no prisoners attacker, is now backing up. By the seventh his eye is puffing. And when he delivers his windmill punches they may land on the scorecards but few land on Penalosa. They hit gloves and air, and like a player figuring out the trick to a video game, Penalosa times them again and again.
If one moment defines the fight up to this point, it is an HBO replay from round six. Both fighters exchange left hands but Penalosa’s gets there first. They follow up with right hooks upstairs. Penalosa remembers his fundamentals and moves his left hand up to the side of his face while Ponce de Leon just watches and waits, preparing as Teddy Atlas says, to take a picture. Ponce de Leon’s shot hits a glove while Penalosa’s hits clean, snapping Ponce de Leon’s head back.
In the final three rounds, Ponce de Leon, the super bantamweight who could fight as a featherweight, starts running from Penalosa, the one-time junior bantamweight champion. Penalosa keeps coming and Ponce de Leon keeps backing up while throwing an ineffective jab. This is no Samuel Peter showing off his boxing skills in the twelfth in his second fight against James Toney. This is a fighter in full survival mode.
After the final bell rang, I am so convinced that Penalosa won that when the scores are read, my first thought is, how could the judges have it so clearly in Penalosa’s favor? After all, I only scored rounds 2, 5, 7, 8, 9, 11, and 12 for Pensola. But when I hear which name owns the perfect scores my heart sinks and I remember poor Steve Forbes who had what I thought was a winning effort taken away from him in the previous bout that evening. My notes immediately after the Forbes decision was announced were the following: “a lot of close rounds because of contrasting styles but to give Forbes only two rounds is nuts.” If it makes the two judges in that fight nuts, what does it make the three who judged the Penalosa fight? The crowd attending the fight boos the decision for their favorite, Ponce de Leon.
I know that judges will have their explanations. They might say it was a matter of styles, that they prefer the more active fighter. If this is so, they are as good at their jobs as movie critics detesting horror movies but reviewing “Halloween” anyway. They might say Ponce de Leon threw the more effective punches. If this is so, they ignored his impression of Muhammad Ali’s hand-held rubber gorilla each time Penalosa popped him with a hook. They might say Ponce de Leon’s punches were harder. If this is so, they closed their eyes to his eyes which were puffy and swollen by the seventh. They might say Ponce de Leon was more consistent throwing punches throughout the twelve rounds. If this is so, they failed to note Ponce De Leon changed his style in the last few rounds. In the last three rounds, this tough, knock ‘em dead, take no prisoners brawler turned into Cory Spinks minus the effective jab. If these judges were movie critics, their favorite movie would be “Eyes wide Shut.”
One way to make up for this decision could be to give Penalosa another chance against Ponce de Leon, but nothing anyone can do will ever make up for the injustice done on Saturday. In the super bantamweights division, at the age of 34, Penalosa having another night like that is slim. An old fighter usually has trouble getting up for a rematch. James Toney tried to rectify a wrong when he rematched with Samuel Peter, but he was just too old to get ready for another tussle with the younger fighter. Sadly, Penalosa will probably never have the chance to show his skills like that again. He will probably never have another chance to move in for the big money fight. He will probably never have another chance for a title until he’s really a washed up old man. He will probably never face another fighter like Ponce de Leon who, with his wide punches and his determination to come forward and his predictability, was simply made for Penalosa on Saturday night.
If the scoring went they way it should have, think of what that would mean to boxing in the lighter weights. We would have a rematch pitting the old warrior Penalosa, the man who knows all the tricks in the book, against the young Ponce de Leon. Ponce de Leon would be quoted as saying, “I learned a lot from that fight, he’s a master. But now I will do it differently. I know what to do.” Penalosa would sit and smile like old Archie Moore, saying “I went back to the Philippines and visited an old witch doctor who gave me the potion for youth. That’s why I won and why I will do it again.” Attention would have been drawn to the lower weights with Vazquez, Larios, Arce, Marquez the Smaller, and everyone around there. The rematch would’ve sold; it would’ve made money for the Golden Boy; and it would’ve given Penalosa the rewards for his great showing.
Many old fighters have recently have had breakout fights – Hopkins and Pastrana, for example. And Penalosa’s breakout against Ponce de Leon was special like Hopkins’s was. He showed the sweet science, the craft of the sport that makes the ultimate boxing showdown, brawler against boxer, so special. It was the kind of show that boxing fans attending Barrera-Marquez wanted to go along with the main event. But what happened? Instead of turning them on with the compelling spectacle of the sweet science, it compelled them to boo a decision that was not just.
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