The youth of WBO super bantamweight king Juan Manuel “Juanma” Lopez and his punching power proved too much for an ageing but gallant WBO bantamweight champion Gerry Peñalosa.

Peñalosa lost by a 9th round TKO at the jampacked Coliseo Ruden Rodriguez in Bayamon, Puerto Rico Sunday morning.

Boxing trainer Freddie Roach, who flew to Bayamon to be in the corner of Peñalosa, asked the referee to stop the bout before the start of the tenth to prevent the veteran southpaw from absorbing more punishment.

Former Puerto Rican great Felix Tito" Trinidad was in the ring in Lopez's corner cheering him on before the fight began. In Peñalosa's corner was his brother Carl Peñalosa Jr, manager Billy Keane, Golden Boy Promotions vice president and international matchmaker Eric Gomez and well-known ring physician Dr. Allan Recto.

Although he was unable to stop Peñalosa in the first round which he did in his last three fights including a stunning KO of champion Daniel Ponce De Leon, the 25-year-old Lopez improved his unbeaten record to 25-0 with 23 KO’s while the Filipino dropped to 54-7-2 with 36 KO’s.

The Solar Sports telecast which was interrupted after the opening round due to satellite problems saw Peñalosa start off cautiously.

Although Peñalosa made Lopez miss a few times, the champion got in a couple of solid body shots but was cautioned to keep his punches up while the Filipino was asked to watch his head as he moved in.

When the satellite link was restored, Peñalosa continued to take a beating especially in the fifth and sixth rounds where Lopez nailed him with some big shots and gave him a brutal beating. The two-time world champion refused to buckle which was a tribute to his chin, his gallantry and his superb conditioning.

ABS-CBN’s special correspondent at the fight TJ Manotoc told www.insidesports.ph, that although he was often pinned against the ropes and got hit with solid shots Peñalosa “never got wobbly and just fought his way out of it either jabbing out of trouble or connecting with a solid right hook.”

Lopez began to step up the pressure in round two with some big blows but Peñalosa refused to back off and engaged the champion toe-to-toe and took several cracking combinations in the process.

Manotoc told us in an overseas telephone conversation that Roach “didn’t want to stop the fight out of respect for Gerry” and gave him one last round after the eighth, telling him “if you don’t knock him out I’ll stop it.”

Roach said if it was any other fighter he would have stopped it after five rounds but he had too much respect and confidence in Gerry to do that even as Manotoc said “Freddie didn’t want to stop it and almost cried when he did.”

Peñalosa wanted to go on but Roach told the referee it was over.

Peñalosa conceded that Lopez “was just too big besides being strong and is a great champion.” After the fight Peñalosa was taken to the nearest hospital for a routine medical check-up after a fight.