Gerry Peñalosa isn’t entertaining the notion of losing in his bid to regain the WBO bantamweight title from Fernando Montiel in their scheduled 12-round bout in Cancun, Quintana Roo, Mexico, on Dec. 19.
“This will be my last fight,” said Peñalosa the other day. “It’s not a win or lose situation because I’m not fighting to lose. I told Billy (Keane, his manager) I’ll only fight for the world title. Montiel has a name, reputation and the title. I want this fight badly.”
Peñalosa said Keane phoned from Los Angeles last week to confirm the bout. He declined to reveal the amount of his purse but said it is over $100,000. Peñalosa plans to leave Manila on Oct. 27 or 28 to report for training at the Wild Card Gym in Los Angeles.
“I’ve talked to coach Freddie (Roach),” said Peñalosa. “He’ll help me train for Montiel. He told me he’ll make time for me, that after Manny’s fight against (Miguel) Cotto, he won’t be as busy. Freddie will be in my corner when I fight Montiel.”
Peñalosa said he turned down an offer to fight in the undercard of the recent Floyd Mayweather-Juan Manuel Marquez undercard in Las Vegas because no title would be at stake.
“Billy asked if I wanted an easy fight to make easy money,” said Peñalosa. “It would’ve been good exposure fighting in the Mayweather undercard in Las Vegas. But I’m not after money or exposure. I just want my title back.”
Peñalosa, 37, said he’s not bothered fighting in Montiel’s country.
“I won’t let it go 12 rounds anyway,” said Peñalosa. “I won’t allow the judges to decide the winner. Montiel doesn’t run. He’s an easy target. When he was a flyweight and superflyweight, he was hard to beat. But now that he’s a bantamweight, he’s not as good as before. He’s slow and he lacks power. I think his time is up.”
Last month, Montiel narrowly escaped defeat when his non-title fight against Alejandro Perez was declared a third round technical draw in Tepic, Mexico. Montiel suffered a cut over his left eye in the first round and it appeared the wound was inflicted by a legitimate punch. When the bout was stopped, it was declared a technical draw but an official from the local boxing commission ruled a technical knockout win for Perez. After a long discussion, the final outcome was decided by WBO official Luis Perez who reaffirmed the technical draw.
“Montiel scored a knockdown in the first round but Perez wasn’t badly hurt,” said Peñalosa. “In the second round, Montiel went down and was in bad shape. The cut was opened by a punch and Montiel should’ve lost by technical knockout.”
Peñalosa said WBO president Paco Varcarcel recently decreed that the winner of his fight against Montiel will make a mandatory defense against the winner of a proposed eliminator between Z Gorres and Eric Morel. But he’s not looking past Montiel.
“I’m not thinking of defending the title once I get it from Montiel,” said Peñalosa. “This is it. No more next fight. It’s do or die and I will retire a champion.”
The Gorres-Morel eliminator was initially set in the undercard of the Pacquiao-Cotto mainer in Las Vegas on Nov. 14. But the fight has been scrapped with Gorres now taking on Luis Melendez at the Mandalay Bay House of Blues in Las Vegas on Nov. 13. Morel, meanwhile, will face Hozumi Hasegawa for the WBC bantamweight crown in Kobe on Dec. 18.
Peñalosa is coming off a loss by stoppage to Juan Manuel Lopez in his second foiled bid for the WBO superbantamweight crown in Puerto Rico last April. He was outpointed by Daniel Ponce de Leon in his first attempt in 2007.
Peñalosa, a former WBC superflyweight and WBO bantamweight champion, said moving up to the 122-pound division was a mistake. He’s comfortable in the bantamweight class and that’s where he will end his boxing career.
Montiel, 30, was only 10 years old when Peñalosa turned pro in 1989. Peñalosa’s record is 54-7-2, with 36 KOs, while Montiel’s mark is 39-2-2, with 29 KOs.