number1contender.net

HBO World Championship Boxing Recap

June 7, 2008

Boardwalk Hall-Atlantic City, New Jersey

WBO Junior Featherweight (122 pounds) 12-Round Championship Match:

Daniel Ponce de Leon (34-1, 30 KO's, 121 pounds) (c) vs. Juan Manuel Lopez (21-0, 19 KO's, 121 pounds)

Ponce de Leon won this championship when it was vacant via 12-round unanimous decision over Sod Looknongyangtoy on October 29, 2005 at the Desert Diamond Casino in Tucson, Arizona. The previous champion was Joan Guzman. Guzman was stripped of this title for failing to make weight for a scheduled title defense against Marcos Licona. This is Ponce de Leon's seventh title defense.

The champion had a decorated amateur career, where he was Mexico's representative in boxing at 112 pounds for the 2000 Sydney Summer Olympics.

In the ring, Ponce de Leon has shown an incredible ability to take a punch and some of the best power punching in the division. In the gym, he is an excellent technical boxer, countering and slipping punches at a high level. However, in competition Ponce de Leon's sound fundamental boxing he displays in the gym go away. Ponce de Leon will not respond to his corner during a match. He throws wide looping power shots, and becomes an easy target for his opponent. This has produced an exciting string of matches, but frequently has Ponce de Leon on the verge of losing by knockout when he stops his opponents.

The champion's last match was a 12-round unanimous decision victory over Eduardo Escobedo on December 8, 2007 at the MGM Grand in Las Vegas, Nevada on the undercard of Ricky Hatton vs. Floyd Mayweather, Jr. Ponce de Leon looked awful in that match. His technical liabilities that his team had reportedly cleaned up in the gym before the match were highlighted in that match. In addition, Ponce de Leon looked to have lost substantial power on his punches facing an opponent who was offering little resistance, and could have been easily knocked out with uppercuts. Escobedo was "turtling" and running at Ponce de Leon's midsection with his head down, and the champion did not throw an uppercut all night.

Ponce de Leon is ranked by The Ring magazine as the number 3 contender to its champion at 122 pounds, Israel Vazquez.

Lopez had a stellar amateur career that culminated when he represented Puerto Rico in boxing at 119 at the 2004 Athens Summer Olympiad.

The challenger turned pro following the Olympics and began knocking out a steadily improving level of competition. Lopez stopped his first 9 opponents, before the end of round 3. He would then take a 8-round unanimous decision victory against Gilbert Bolanoson March 4, 2006 at Coliseo Ruben Rodriguez in Bayamon, Puerto Rico, before knocking out his next opponent. Lopez won a 6-round unanimous decision over Sergio Mendez on June 10, 2006 at Madison Square Garden in New York City, New York. Since then, Lopez has knocked out his last 9 opponents.

The Caguas, Puerto Rico resident's last match was a technical knockout victory at 49 seconds of round 3 over Jonathon Oquendo on February 23, 2008 at Coliseo Hector Sola Bezares in Caguas. Lopez was so dominant in the match, that after 2 rounds, 1 judge had the match scored in his favor, 20-15.

Lopez is unranked by The Ring, but the number 10 ranked boxer at 122 pounds by boxrec.com.

At 24-years-old, Lopez is 3 years younger then the 27-year-old Ponce de Leon. Lopez has the height advantage standing 5' 7" tall, while Ponce de Leon stands 5' 5" tall. Ponce de Leon has the reach advantage with a 22.5" arm length measured from the armpit to the end of the fist, compared to the 21.5" arm length of Lopez. Approaching match time, Ponce Leon has the weight advantage, unofficially weighing 131 pounds on HBO's scales. Lopez has only rehydrated after the official weigh-ins to 129 pounds, unofficially. Both boxers will employ the southpaw stance.

The unified rules of boxing are in effect for this event. Two of the judges keeping official score of this match from ringside are from New Jersey and the other is from Pennsylvania. The referee is Michael Ortega. Keeping unofficial score of this event for HBO is Harold Lederman.

With 1:30 to go in round 1, Ponce de Leon stumbles backwards to the canvas. It looked like a slip. Ponce de Leon appeared to get off balance throwing a combination, and possibly got his feet tangled with Lopez. That is what may have sent him to the mat. However, the referee is ruling it a knockdown. When Ponce de Leon gets up his legs are very shaky. Ponce de Leon either blew out his left knee or is really hurt. None of the punches that hit him appeared to have been that damaging. Ponce de Leon is also, blinking and trying to wipe out his eyes when the referee allows him to continue with 1:18 to go in the round. The champion has never been knocked down in his career as an amateur or professional. A right hook from Lopez scores a clear knockdown with 47 seconds to go in the round. When Ponce de Leon attempts to stand, he goes stumbling back into the corner and the referee immediately waves off the match with 39 seconds to go in round 1. It appears the first knockdown was a delayed reaction to another right hook from Lopez. This was bizarre. Ponce de Leon in his corner looks like he has no idea where he is or what happened. The punch that finished the match, also appears to have cut Ponce de Leon under his right eye.

The official outcome from the newly married Michael Buffer is that: at 2:25 of round 1 the winner by technical knockout, still undefeated, and new WBO Junior Featherweight Champion of the World, Juan Manuel "Juanma" Lopez. The win moves Lopez to 22-0 with 20 of those wins coming by way of knockout.

The final punchstat numbers have Lopez landing 16 of the 51 total punches he threw, for a 31% total connect percentage. Ponce de Leon landed 6 of the 41 total punches he threw, for a 15% total connect percentage.

Lopez in his post match interview said he wanted to unify his title with the top boxers in the division, that means Israel Vazquez. HBO's Max Kellerman, who was conducting the interview, asked Lopez if he felt he needed to do more to face the top boxers in the division. Lopez respondedwith the question of, what more can he do then he did in this match? Kellerman did not have an answer.

The new champion is right to ask for Vazquez, however both Vazquez and Rafael Marquez, who does not hold a title, but is the other big name at 122 pounds, are still recovering from brutalizing each other for the last year. Neither be ready to go for a while. When Vazquez and Marquez return to the ring, it is unlikely they will be looking for a match against another power punching opponent, immediately. Lopez' next match will likely be against Celestino Caballero, who holds the other defeat over Ponce de Leon and another title at 122 pounds. Then if Lopez keeps winning, in early 2009 he might get a shot at Vazquez or Marquez.

This was a disastrous performance for Ponce de Leon. He is going to need to take some rebuilding matches on ShoBox if he can get them, or be forced to go overseas to get quality match ups in the division for a while. Ponce de Leon's defensive flaws were again exposed in this match, and unless they are corrected it could be years before he becomes a credible world champion, again.