Thursday, December 25, 2008 Peñalosa’s mandatory fight called
IF World Boxing Organization bantamweight king Gerry “Fearless” Peña-losa will not collaborate with former World Boxing Association flyweight titleholder Eric “Little Hands of Steel” Morel for a mandatory title defense, Morel’s camp will appeal to WBO to have him give up his crown.
Morel’s handlers, PR Best Boxing, have been contacting Peñalosa to finalize the title defense fight, but there had been no development.
“We have made several attempts to contact Pena-losa’s team without any success,” Morel’s handler Ivan Rivera said in a report at Fightnews.com.
Strip
Rivera said that if the 36-year-old Filipino champion will not oblige in the negotiations, then they would have him stripped of his belt.
“Penalosa’s team is being very difficult. Morel has earned the right to a title fight. WBO president Francisco ‘Paco’ Valcarcel named Morel the mandatory challenger at the WBO Convention this past November. The next course of action is for us to petition the WBO to step in and strip him of his title if he’s not going to honor his mandatory defense. It really shouldn’t even come down to this as we’ve been very professional about the negotiations and have made a fair offer. We only want Peñalosa to do the right thing and honor his mandatory title defense against Morel,” said Rivera.
Ranking
Morel, who is the No.1 contender in the WBO bantamweight class, feels that he has what it takes to beat Peñalosa and claim another world title in another weight category.
“I’m just ready to get in there with him and win my second division world title,” said the 33-year-old Puerto Rican. “I’ve fought southpaws before and have done well. With a solid camp and preparation for a southpaw, it won’t be a problem for me at all,” he added.
Strategy
Morel also believes that he has an exceptional defense with an equally outstanding offense that could hurt Peñalosa.
“I’ve always had a solid defense but keep in mind that I’m going to be throwing punches with power. So he will have to be cautious of my power as well,” explained Morel.
Peñalosa’s last title defense was against ex-world champion Ratanachai Sor Vorapin, whom he stopped in the eighth round last April 6 at the Araneta Coliseum.
He acquired the WBO title after he knocked out erstwhile champion Jhonny Gonzalez in 2007 with a devastating body shot. (EKA)
