[8.5] GERRY PENALOSA 65-55(37)-8-2 [Super-Bantamweight & Bantamweight & Super-Flyweight & Light-Flyweight]: Boxing Monthly online -
Perhaps remembered most for the brutal come-from-behind body shot that put Johnny Gonzalez down for the count up at bantamweight, Penalosa was in fact at his peak at super flyweight.
Penalosa had some amateur experience, but like many Filipino boxers his main apprenticeship came in the jam-packed domestic scene, where starving fighters scrap it out to prove their supremacy and work their way towards fuller bellies.
Supremely quick of hand, Penalosa threw every punch straight out of the textbook. A tremendous combination puncher, he didn’t throw aimless flurries designed to catch the eye, he threw sharp and accurate punches designed to bust the eye socket, or break a rib, and quickly found himself in a position to fight the ninth-ranked fighter on this list, Hiroshi Kawashima, then making the seventh defence of his title in February 1997.
Penalosa, 35-1-1 but with only one or two notable wins to his name, was unheralded in Kawashima’s homeland. He wouldn’t be once the 12 rounds were up.
In many ways these two were mirror images of each other. Both southpaws, they did their best work at mid-range, could counter even the smartest of operators, and mixed up their work from head to body fluently.
A closely contested bout with a clear winner, the split decision rendered was surely due to the fact it took place in the champion's homeland. Penalosa was now the WBC champion, although close decisions away from home would hamper his chances of putting together a lengthy championship reign.
Footage of his losses shows that Penalosa was never decisively beaten at super flyweight, and with numerous wins over ranked contenders and former title challengers, his championship record of 3-4-1 at 115lbs is not indicative of his class.
No less a figure than Hall of Fame trainer Freddie Roach, who has seen it all over the years having had ring legends such as James Toney, Manny Pacquiao, Oscar De La Hoya and Mike Tyson under his tutelage at various times, once said: ‘Technically, he [Penalosa] is one of the best, even better than Manny.’ Boxing Monthly online article 2Kyle McLachlan 20th February 2018, ‘The Top Ten Super Flyweights of All Time’