Juan Manuel Lopez vs Gerry Penalosa Recap & Review

Lopez Batters Penalosa for Nine Rounds

Juan Manuel Lopez continued his dominance over his opponents as he brutally battered a game Gerry Penalosa for nine rounds in their super bantamweight title fight. After the 9th round, Penalosa's trainer Freddie Roach put an end to the contest. He had told Penalosa he would give him one more round after the 8th, and true to his word, when Penalosa didn't turn the tides in the 9th, Roach wisely stopped the battle.

While Penalosa never stopped trying – he certainly lived up to his "Fearless" moniker in this fight – he was never in the fight. Moving up from a more naturally weight of 118 pounds, he was facing in Lopez an extremely large 122 pound fighter, with a future at 126 pounds, and the size difference was apparent from the beginning.

Of course, size was not the only deciding factor in this bout, as Penalosa has conquered larger foes in the past. The deciding factor was the entire offensive arsenal of Lopez, now 25-0 with 23 knockouts. Lopez continually threw over 100 punches per round and continued to mix up his attack with devastating digs to the body and crunching shots to the face.

Penalosa was never sent down to the canvas, but the sixth round could have been scored 10-8 in Lopez's favor as the action was so one sided. As Penalosa continued to take a beating, the fight seemed to be taking a turn for the dangerous, as one had to fear the consequences of such a sustained beating that Lopez was unleashing on Penalosa. It was a relief when Roach finally stopped the contest.

The fight was held in Puerto Rico in front of an adoring and raucous crowd for Lopez. Puerto Rican legend Felix Trinidad accompanied Lopez to the ring prior to the bout beginning.

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In earlier action, the lightweight bout between Lamont Peterson and Willy Blain had a bizarre ending. At the end of the sixth round Blain suffered some kind of hand or arm injury and turned away from the action. The referee waved off the fight, but then astonishingly reversed his decision when Blain vigorously complained. The fight then continued into the 7th, but when Blain had trouble continuing the referee than stopped the bout for good.

Peterson gets the TKO victory. It's long past due for both Lamont Peterson and brother Anthony Peterson to face top level competition.

By Jake Emen
ProFighting-fans.com Staff Writer & Director of Boxing Content