By Ronnie Nathanielsz
Top Rank promoter Bob Arum says there is a real chance that Puerto Rican sensation Juan Manuel “Juanma” Lopez will defend his WBO super bantamweight title against Bernabe Concepcion, the reigning North American Boxing Federation champion Bernabe Concepcion, on the Manny Pacquiao-Oscar De La Hoya “Dream Match” at the MGM Grand on December 6.
In an overseas telephone conversation with insidesports.ph, Standard Today and Viva Sports, Arum said “right now Lopez is looking to make a title defense against Concepcion and looks like that fight will push through.”
Arum said while WBO bantamweight champion Gerry Penalosa has asked Lopez to “stop hiding” and to fight him on December 6, Penalosa “wanted too much money. He wanted more than Lopez. He doesn’t understand there is a recession in the United States and he’s looking for crazy money.” That ended Penalosa’s chances of landing the title fight against Lopez.
He said the handlers of Concepcion “want the fight (with Lopez) definitely and we hopefully will conclude it tomorrow (Tuesday) or Wednesday” in the US.
Lopez was originally scheduled to fight Sergio Manuel Medina who had lost a twelve round decision to current WBO No.1 ranked Rey “Boom Boom” Bautista on May 5 last year but it seems that Medina may have to step aside to make way for Concepcion if the deal is finalized.
The astute promoter said he believes it will be “a tough, tough fight for Concepcion but they seem to want the fight. They seem to figure that they can win. You can’t argue with anybody. They want the fight. We didn’t even offer it to them. They went after it.”
Clearly Arum was elated over the prospect of a Concepcion-Lopez title fight on the undercard of the “Dream Match” between Filipino ring idol Manny Pacquiao and “The Golden Boy” Oscar De La Hoya saying it would be a “blockbuster card, absolutely.”
The 20 year old Concepcion (27-1, 16 KO’s) has had four fights this year. He began with a hard-fought 10 round decision over Juan Ruiz on February 9 and then had an easy 2nd round TKO over former US Olympic boxing team alternate Torrence Daniels on April 26.
Concepcion followed this up with a 3rd round TKO over Adam Carrera on July 26 before scoring an 8th round KO over Giovanni Carrera in a brutal encounter on September 25 where Concepcion’s left eye was almost totally shut but where he showed remarkable courage to come back after the ring physician nearly stopped the fight, to score a spectacular KO win.
Lopez, the undefeated 25 year old southpaw with a record of 21 knockouts in 23 wins won the title with a stunning first round TKO over the menacing-looking Daniel Ponce De Leon on June 7 and then scored a similarly overpowering 1st round knockout over Cesar Figueroa last October 4.