Thursday, September 04, 2008 Bautista in Pacquiao vs. De La Hoya undercard
IF plans push through two other Pinoys will see action in the undercard of the Manny Pacquiao vs. Oscar De La Hoya megafight in Las Vegas on Dec. 6
Rising star Rey “Boom-Boom” Bautista, fresh from his second round win last Aug. 30 in his World Boxing Organization (WBO) super bantamweight title fight, is being groomed to be in the undercard along with WBO bantamweight champion Gerry Peñalosa.
“We are going to put him (Bautista) on the show and we are trying to get him a good fight against someone in the rankings, someone who could give him a good fight,” Golden Boy Promotions vice president Eric Gomez said in a report posted at abs-cbnnews.com.
Bautista’s last title fight ended in a brutal first-round knockout loss to then champion Daniel Ponce de Leon.
“Actually, that’s the plan. We were just waiting for the Aug. 30 bout of Boom-Boom which he won impressively,” said Bautista’s manager Michael Aldeguer.
According to Gomez, despite Boom-Boom’s first round loss, the boxer still has a strong appeal because of his power.
“The thing with ‘Boom Boom’ is that he’s very charismatic. He’s one of those guys that people like to see fight because you never know what’s going to happen. Anything can happen. He could get dropped but he could also knock anybody out. That makes him exciting,” said Gomez.
In his last fight, Bautista downed Mexican Eden Marquez in two rounds.
Meanwhile, the website also reported that Peñalosa has received an offer to be in the undercard.
Peñalosa is set to defend his crown against Mexican Nestor Rocha this month, possibly in Cebu. The fight was originally scheduled in Lanao del Norte but was canceled because of the peace and order situation there.
According to Peñalosa, he received two offers for his title defense, a $150,000 prize in a bout against Rocha in the undercard of the IBF/IBO welterweight title fight between Paul Malignaggi and Ricky Hatton on Nov. 22 and a $250,000 offer to face Mares in the Pacquiao vs. De La Hoya fight. (ESL of Superbalita)
