By Abac Cordero (The Philippine Star) - MANDAUE CITY, Philippines – Dodie Boy Peñalosa Jr. stopped his Thai opponent inside three rounds Saturday evening but will have to do better than that if he really wants to make it to the big stage.
The 21-year-old Peñalosa stretched his unbeaten record to six, all by knockouts, when the referee stopped the fight in the 2:16 mark of the third round at the packed Mandaue Sports Complex.
Kong Kiatpracha Gym (5-9-1) went down thrice from Peñalosa’s punches. The end could have come quicker but the Thai’s awkward style sometimes made it difficult for him to get hit.
Peñalosa was hoping that a big win could put him in the undercard of Manny Pacquiao’s fight against Juan Manuel Marquez in Las Vegas on Nov. 12.
But while most of the Cebuano boxing fans were happy with the result, the elder Peñalosas, two-time world champions Dodie Boy Sr. and Gerry, were a little apprehensive.
“I think we need one more tuneup fight if we are to put him in the Pacquiao undercard,” said the father, Dodie Boy Sr., on the way to the dressing room.
“You can see that the talent is there, and that he is athletic. But he needs to do better than that. He needs to develop the killer instinct,” he added in Filipino.
The uncle, former world super-flyweight and bantamweight champion Gerry, said fighting in Las Vegas, the boxing capital of the world, is no joke.
“Anything can happen in Vegas. That’s why we need to make sure he’s ready for that. He still needs the experience but if he’d say he’s ready, we can try,” he said.
“He has the skills. But if he wants to make an impact once he fights in Las Vegas, he needs to be ready. We don’t know who they will pit against him. Mahirap na,” said the uncle.
Saturday night’s fight card dubbed “Laban ng Lahi” was presented by Gerry Penns Promotion and giant network station GMA-7. It was a big hit to the Cebuanos.
Rodel Mayol, the former world flyweight champion, came in for a tuneup match against countryman Jayson Rotoni, and got more than a tuneup.
Mayol found Rotoni a tough customer, and the former world champion came close to being knocked down in the third round after taking a solid left to the face.
But Mayol called on his champion’s instinct to control the fight until the end en route to a unanimous decision. The fight turned out to be the fight of the night.
In other action, Jimrex Jaca scored a technical knockout against the comical Jun Demecillo while Randy Petalcorin won by disqualification against Michael Rodriguez.
Petalcorin was ahead on points but was running out of gas when he was hit by Demecillo while he was down on his knees. He stayed down on the canvas for a long time even if the crowd felt he wasn’t hit that hard, as his camp pressed for the disqualification.
Eden Sonsona scored a majority decision against Eman Labanza.
