Bayamón, P.R.- A week before his scheduled bout with Filipino Gerry “Fearless” Peñalosa (54-6-2 36KO’s), Juan Manuel “Juanma” López (24-0 22 KO’s) took time to answer some questions and 15rounds.com was there to listen to what the young champion had to say about his opponent and the upcoming fight.
When asked if he thinks he will be the first to knockout his opponent, López replied “Yes…I prepare myself well to go twelve rounds, so I don’t want people to misinterpret that I am over confident or anything like that, but Peñalosa’s style is to come forward all the time and he catches many straight lefts and many right hooks…I think if he comes forward like he always does, because I have never seen changes, I don’t know what adjustments he’s going to make, when he receives those straight lefts and right hooks of mine, I think they will hurt him a lot and I don’t think the fight will go twelve rounds.”
About his training, Juanma said “…fight after fight we’re getting better, everyday you learn something new, everyday one gets in better physical condition… even if the fight goes one round, I train the same as if it were to last twelve…and we’re very well prepared for this fight and confident about victory…”
He would go on to point at Peñalosa’a chin as one of his strongest attributes along with the ability to get stronger as the fight goes deeper. For this reason he said they had worked to fight for twelve rounds if necessary. Juanma said he will look to fight at a medium distance as is usual for him moving around his opponent and using the ring to his advantage.
About other fights, López mentioned the two biggest names in his division, Ring Champion Israel “Magnífico” Vázquez and his rival Rafael Marquéz. About Vázquez he said he thought he could be close to retiring due to problems with a retina but still expressed his willingness to fight him.
When speaking about Márquez, he said they had offered him a fight for the title yet he had opted to go for an interim version (Marquez is scheduled to fight Mauricio Martínez for the WBC Interim Super Bantamweight Title).
To his fans the champion said “…go see the fight, and those who can’t make it, watch it on HBO…and keep on supporting other boxers…” He talked about ring entrances and said he enjoyed big shows, mentioning Batista and explosions among other things, but is aware that HBO is jealous with that sort of thing.