Peñalosa struggles to make weight in WBO title fight vs Cardenas

Roy Luarca

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Peñalosa struggles to make weight in WBO title fight vs Cardenas
Dave Peñalosa fights for the vacant WBO featherweight crown against Mexican Marcos Cardenas

 

 

 

 

 

MANILA, Philippines – Whether Dave and Carlo Caesar Peñalosa are in the league of their forebears will be known when they tackle foreign opponents Saturday night, February 16, at SM North Skydome in Quezon City.

The stakes are higher for the unbeaten Dave Peñalosa (14-0, 10 knockouts) as he will be gunning for the vacant World Boxing Organization featherweight crown against Mexican Marcos Cardenas (19-6-1, 15 KOs) in the headliner of the ESPN5 fight card.

Dave, however, struggled to make 126 pounds on Friday, coming in two pounds over when he first stepped into the scales and needed 4 attempts to reach it before the two hours allotted time to shed weight expired.

Though Cardenas, who arrived in the country on Monday, went one pound over, he made the grade on his second try.

Carlo Caesar Peñalosa (13-1, 6 KOs) will be tangling with Thai Watana Phenbaaan (18-5, 11 KOs) in a flyweight tussle.

Both are heavy handed with the 28-year-old Dave stopping 5 of his last 6 opponents and the 25-year-old Carlo knocking out his last 3.

The cousins have big acts to follow.

Dave’s father is former two-division world champion Dodie Boy Peñalosa while their uncle is former two-division world champion Gerry Peñalosa, who co-stages the free-to-the-public televised card by way of his GerryPens Promotions. 

Sharing the spotlight with the Peñalosas are former International Boxing Federation junior flyweight and flyweight champion Johnriel Casimero (25-4-1, 16 KOs) and prime prospect Carl Jammes Martin (11-0, 10 KOs).

Trying to crawl his way back to the top, the 30-year-old Casimero will be tangling with Japanese Kenya Yamashita (13-4, 10 KOs) in a bantamweight encounter.

Casimero lost to Jonas Sultan in an eliminator for the right to challenge IBF junior bantamweight champion Jerwin Ancajas in 2017, but rebounded with a second-round knockout of Mexican Jose Pech last year.

Only 19 years old, Martin will be testing his mettle against Thai Petchchorhae Kokietgym (17-2, 8 KOs).

A southpaw who has never fought outside of Ifugao Province, Martin sparred with Ancajas at Survival Camp in Magallanes, Cavite recently and made a lasting impression.

“He has potential. He’s brave, strong and a workhorse,” said Joven Jimenez, Ancajas’ chief trainer. – Rappler.com

 

 

 

 

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