DANIEL PONCE DE LEóN

'Daniel Ponce de León' (Tarahumara American Indian born July 27, 1980 in Ciudad Cuauhtémoc, Chihuahua, Mexico) is a 5' 5" southpaw professional boxer in the junior featherweight (122 lb) division. His record is 32-1 (29 KOs). He is the current WBO world junior featherweight champion. ("Ponce" is not a nickname, as a casual observer might believe; Ponce de León is Daniel's given surname.)

Contents

Amateur career

Professional career

See also

External links

Amateur career

Ponce de León was defeated in the opening round of the 2000 Olympics by eventual bronze medalist Wladimir Sidorenko.

Professional career

Ponce de León's only loss was a unanimous decision loss to Celestino Caballero on February 17, 2005. Ponce de León won the vacant WBO junior featherweight title on October 29, 2005 defeating Sod Looknongyangtoy on points.
He has defended his title 5 times, including an explosive, first round KO in a rematch with Looknongyangtoy and a controversial decision win over skilled Filipino Gerry Penalosa. On August 11, 2007, he defended his WBO title against contender Rey "Boom Boom" Bautista, winning the fight with an impressive KO in the 1st round of a scheduled 12-round bout.
The wins over Looknongyangtoy and Bautista highlight Ponce de Léon's awesome power but his technical weaknesses were seen in his fights with Celestino Caballero and Gerry Peñalosa. In a brief statement after the Philippines vs Mexico world cup last august by filipino boxing analyst, Ronnie Nathanielsz, he stated that De Leon was not in peak condition when he fought Gerry Peñalosa.

See also

★ List of current world boxing champions

★ List of male boxers

★ Mexico at the 2000 Summer Olympics

External links

★ Daniel Ponce de León's career boxing record

★ Daniel Ponce de León's biography (Golden Boy Promotions Inc. official site)