Monday, March 19, 2007 Sayson: Stolen treasures By Homer Sayson Second Overtime
LAS Vegas—After 18 long years in the ring, a journey paved with wonderful highs and catastrophic lows, Gerry Peñalosa took another train that would take him to a world championship destination.
And with the soft glow of twilight dawning on his career, Gerry was determined to enjoy this ride with a blaze of glory. Drift mightily toward the sunset with the WBO and IBA super bantamweight title belts dangling around his narrow waist.
Against Daniel Ponce De Leon, a wickedly dangerous champion with 28 KOs in 30 wins, Gerry danced around peril with uncommon guile. He counter-punched with razor-sharp precision, and he rifled combinations with a power and velocity that had been unseen in his arsenal in recent years.
In other words, Gerry did all that he was supposed to do. He did everything, except win.
Life is not always fair.
I was at ringside for this travesty last night, section F – seat 12. I did a live blow-by-blow broadcast of the bout at AM station dyAB with anchors Heidi Acuna and Bob Malazarte.
Bottles of Evian mineral water, coffee, juices and soft drinks, were free for all credentialed sportswriters such as I. But even with all that liquid, it was extremely difficult to swallow the injustice.
Life, the gloved variety, is a bitch.
Gerry lost his title bid. But De Leon didn't beat the Cebuano from San Carlos city. The judges did. Three unwise men who obviously didn't possess a sense of good judgement.
Chuck Giampa and Nelson Vazquez scored it 119-109 for De Leon, while Dave Moretti had it at 120-108, which meant that Gerry, despite cutting his foe's right eye while welting the other, did not win a single round.
A near sold-out crowd at the Mandalay Bay Events Center greeted the misjudgement with loud, lusty boos. It turned out to be a good thing that Las Vegas did not open a betting line for this fight. If it had, a riot could have been sparked by angry people who felt denied from a deserved payday.
Two Cebuanos were there at the arena. Four sad eyes who couldn't believe what they saw and heard. Anthony Andales of philboxing.com kept shaking his head like an aberrant metronome. My best pal, Juvie Cabigon, sat quietly in his expensive seat, squirming in disbelief.
De Leon threw a total of 1,399 punches, but he connected only 259, or a mere 19 percent. Gerry was a lot more economical, throwing only 481 punches. But he landed 36 percent of his shots. Gerry's accuracy more than compensated for De Leon's voluminous blows.
Effective aggressiveness is an important key in judging fights. De Leon, the stalker, sure was aggressive. But he couldn't find the ocean from the shore. Gerry did not initiate much of the action, but when the exchanges took place, he found his target cleanly and often.
Words that could describe Gerry's shock upon hearing his loss have not yet been found. But the 34-year-old didn't raise hell. Amid thundering applause from a disgruntled public, Gerry scoured the four corners of the ring, bowed and blew kisses.
If life ever throws me a curve ball, I'd like to behave the way Gerry did. With class and dignity befitting a multiple world champion.
If someone didn't sleep well last night, it wasn't Gerry. The guy who couldn't close his eyes was De Leon. He benefited from a terriblly wrong verdict, and he's now holding two jewels he doesn't deserve. That's tough on anyone's conscience, isn't it?
