Gerry Peñalosa meets‘El Indio de Oro’

Feliciano Dario Azuaga Ledezma may not ring a bell to many fight fans (pardon the pun), but he will be intimately familiar to most of us when he steps into the squared circle against World Boxing Federation and former World Boxing Council super flyweight champion Gerry Peñalosa at the Yñares Center in Antipolo on Saturday. The ten-round non-title fight, titled "Rage in December", will be Peñalosa’s debut as a bantamweight.

The story of Ledezma, who goes by the abbreviated name Dario Azuaga, is typical of many poor boxers from Latin America and the Philippines. His family was extremely poor, and when Feliciano was born in 1974, they moved to the city of Ciudad del Este in Paraguay, where he spent most of his childhood. His father, Pastor Azuaga was a very good amateur boxer who had the alias of "The Guarani Indian", because he was an Indian who belonged to the Chulupi tribe. As a background, the Guarani Indians were known for their endurance and longevity, because they supposedly chewed on the root of the Guarana plant, which is an ingredient in some mass-produced energy drinks and was supposedly a legendary secret of strength of tribal shaman.

Feliciano’s father, Pastor, fought successfully in different international amateur tournaments. Though he only weighed 43 kilos, he fought as a flyweight. It’s been rumored that World Boxing Council president Jose Sulaiman created the light flyweight division to give Pastor Azuaga the chance to fight for a world title, but because of internal problems, he couldn’t fight.

Since Feliciano was very young, his father made him fight in the streets, parks and boxing events all over Paraguay, where he racked up victories in the great majority of over a hundred amateur fights. Eventually, Feliciano had to turn pro to earn money and help with the family’s expenses. He hooked up with well-known Argentine trainer Amilcar Brusa — who developed no less than ten world champions — until Brusa left to seek greener pastures in the US.

Azuaga made his pro debut on February 5, 1993 with a fifth-round stoppage of fellow Paraguayan Fernando de la Mora in a six-round bantamweight bout. In his second fight (in Argentina) he knocked out Olegario Manuel Vallejos in one round. That’s where he picked up his nom de guerre "El Indio de Oro" or "The Golden Indian" because of his outsdtaning punching power, determination and showmanship. In a year and a half, he ascended to the Paraguayan bantamweight title with a second-round knockout. In 76 fights, he has racked up 66 wins, 57 within the distance. El Indio de Oro has dismissed 25 of his opponents in the first round, a scary proposition for Peñalosa should he decide to mix it up early. Azuaga has long been denied a chance to fight the southpaw Peñalosa, and is fresh off a ten-round unanimous decision victory to keep his Paraguayan bantamweight title over Arnaldo Elias Romero Orrabalis.

This will be the first time Azuaga will be fighting in a non-Hispanic country. All of his fights have taken place in his native Paraguay, Argentina, and the occasional trip to Mexico. He arrived Friday afternoon.

Peñalosa (48-5-2 with 33 KO’s), last fought in November of 2004, stopping Bangsaem Sithpraprom of Thailand at the Casino Filipino in Parañaque for the vacant WBF super flyweight title. Sithpraprom previously had a 14-0 record with seven knockouts.

The native of San Carlos City in Negros once boasted of an unbroken string of 11 knockouts, and is always dangerous. Peñalosa’s last defeat came in a split-decision loss to Masamori Tokuyama in their battle for the ABC super flyweight title. But in that bout, Tokuyama was penalized a point for head-butting Gerry in the third round. Judge Richard James Davies strangely gave the Japanese a 116-111 advantage on his scorecard, while Duane Ford and Tom Kaczmarek each only had a point separating the two boxers. Peñalosa and Azuaga will meet the press at the Elorde Sports Center on December 8.

Moving up in weight is always a gamble, but also most of the time a necessity. Years of training tend to pack on more and more muscle, and it becomes very difficult for a boxer to keep the weight down. There’s also the question of whether or not a fighter like Gerry will be able to knock down a slightly bigger target. But, having seen Peñalosa train, El Indio is in for a few surprises.