De Leon KOs Bautista, Penalosa shocks Gonzalez

By Scott Shaffer

11/08/2007

De Leon KOs Bautista, Penalosa shocks Gonzalez

Daniel Ponce De Leon TKO1 Rey Bautista... In Sacramento, California, Daniel Ponce De Leon demonstrated why he is the most feared puncher in the business at 122 pounds. De Leon retained his WBO title by whacking out Rey Bautista in the first round. The first knockdown caught Bautista right on the button, and he went down in a delayed reaction. His legs didn't seem fully underneath him when the second knockdown came. Bautista was trying to get up when referee Jon Schorle waved it off. Given that it was a world title fight, Schorle probably should have continued counting to allow a few more seconds to evaluate Bautista. However, De Leon was probably too powerful for the fight to have contiued much longer. De Leon is now 32-1 with his only loss to WBA counterpart Celestino Caballero. Bautista drops to 23-1. source: hbo boxing after dark   

Gerry Penalosa KO7 Jhonny Gonzalez... Trailing on the scorecards, Filippino veteran Gerry Penalosa scored a one-body punch knockout of Jhonny Gonzalez to claim the WBO bantamweight championship.  Penalosa, now 52-6-2 and in the 18th year of his pro career, joined only his brother Dodie Penalosa, Manny Pacquiao, Luisito Espinosa (and arguably, 1940s boxer Eleuterio Zapanta, aka Little Dado) as the only multi-division champions from The Philippines. The accomplishment is even more amazing considering Penalosa's reign as WBC 115-pound champion was ended  by Korea's In Joo Cho way back in 1998. Gonzalez, a real fighting champion who ducked no one, will certainly regroup from this loss, possibly coming back at 122 pounds. source: hbo boxing after dark   

Z Gorres TKO8 Eric Ortiz... In a non-televised junior bantamweight bout, Z Gorres won a regional title with an eighth-round TKO of Eric Ortiz. The ring physician stopped the fight with 45 seconds left in the eighth round after Gorres (27-2-1, 15 KOs) opened a huge gash over Ortiz's left eye with an assortment of punches and head-butts. Ortiz falls to 26-7-1. source: associated press