A rising star and battle-tested veteran turn up the heat when HBO BOXING AFTER DARK®: JUAN MANUEL LOPEZ VS. GERRY PENALOSA AND LAMONT PETERSON VS. WILLY BLAIN is presented SATURDAY, APRIL 25 (10:00 p.m. live ET/tape-delayed PT) from the Coliseo Ruben Rodriguez in Bayamon, Puerto Rico, exclusively on HBO. The HBO Sports team of blow-by-blow announcer Bob Papa, commentator Max Kellerman and expert analyst Lennox Lewis will be ringside for the event, which will be available in HDTV, closed-captioned for the hearing-impaired and presented in Spanish on HBO Latino..
The main event pits undefeated sensation and junior featherweight titleholder Juan Manuel Lopez (24-0, 22 KOs) of Caguas, Puerto Rico against battle-tested veteran and former two-division champ Gerry Penalosa (54-6-2, 36 KOs) of Manila, Philippines in a scheduled 12-round title match. After a stunning first-round knockout of Daniel Ponce De Leon in his June 2008 HBO debut, local hero Lopez will need his unparalleled speed, power and accuracy to extend a perfect ring record and become the first fighter to knock out his foe. Nicknamed “Fearless” for unwavering boldness in the ring during a long, high-caliber career, the seasoned Penalosa plans on springing a surprise on his rival.
Kicking off the night, undefeated junior welterweights Lamont Peterson (26-0, 12 KOs) and Willy Blain (20-0, 3 KOs) fight for top-rated status in the division and the chance of a division title shot in a scheduled 12-round contest. Overcoming a poverty-ridden childhood in Memphis, Tenn., Peterson has become one of the junior welterweight division’s hottest prospect; he now faces a towering challenge in former world amateur champion and Hamburg, Germany resident Willy Blain. Unbeaten in a combined 46 challenges, Peterson and Blain are both skilled, quick-handed fighters.
The BOXING AFTER DARK doubleheader will be preceded by the debut of the third episode of the all-access reality series “Pacquiao/Hatton 24/7” at 9:35 p.m. (ET/PT).
The executive producer of HBO BOXING AFTER DARK is Rick Bernstein; producer, Jonathan Crystal; director, Mike Sheehan.
® HBO BOXING AFTER DARK is a registered service mark of Home Box Office, Inc.