Daniel Ponce De Leon vs Juan Manuel Lopez preview March 15
Daniel Ponce De Leon, a former two-division world champion from Mexico, will be seeking revenge against Puerto Rico’s Juan Manuel Lopez this Saturday, March 15 when the two meet in a rematch in Bayamon, Puerto Rico. The scheduled 10-round bout for the WBO International super featherweight title can be seen in the USA on the Showtime network and on Super Channel in Canada. Their first meeting at the Boardwalk Hall in Atlantic City in 2008 ended in a first-round stoppage for Lopez, who’s also a former world champion.
Ponce De Leon will take a 45-5 record with him onto the ring along with 35 Kos while Lopez will climb the ring apron with a mark of 33-3, with 30 Kos. It’s obvious these two boxers have tremendous power in their fists and it’s unlikely this bout’s going to go the 12 round distance. In fact, Ponce De Leon said nothing but a knockout will do. And while both boxers are past their prime, fans realize that their power is the last thing to desert them.
Ponce De Leon said he took Lopez too lightly in their first meeting and he paid dearly for it, but now he knows exactly what to expect and has trained as hard as possible for the rematch. Ponce De Leon was embarrassed by the knockout loss to Lopez and is determined to turn the tables on him. Since their first encounter Ponce De Leon has improved his boxing skills and still has pretty good power. He’s lost a couple of fights, but they’ve been to world champions in Adrien Broner and Yuriorkis Gamboa.
The 33-year-old Mexican warrior won his second world championship in September of 2012 when he beat Jhonny Gonzalez for the WBC featherweight crown with an eighth-round technical decision. He then lost the title in his first defence when he was stopped in the ninth round by Abner Mares. Ponce De Leon doesn’t just depend on his power punching these days as he’s content to box his way to victory when he has to. However, that’s not very often, but he did go the distance in November in his last bout to beat Joksan Hernandez.
Lopez took the WBO Super Bantamweight crown from Ponce De Leon back in 2008 and defended it five times. He then moved up to the featherweight division and won the WBO title against Steven Luevano. He was on a hot streak, but then hit a brick wall when he was stopped twice by Orlando Salido of Mexico in a couple of slugfests. Since then he’s won a pair of fights by stoppage, but was then stopped himself in four rounds by Mikey Garcia.
The 30-year-old Lopez has never really been the same since being knocked out by Salido and many fans feel he’s a shot fighter these days. However, he could have one more great effort left in him and this could be it. Lopez should be motivated by fighting in front of his home fans and he should also be quite confident considering the result of his first bout with Ponce De Leon when he dropped his opponent three times.
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Prediction
It’s almost a sure thing that this fight is going to end in a knockout. Both boxers have excellent power and both also have questionable chins. It could be a case of whoever lands the first power shot is going to walk away the winner. Ponce De Leon has stated that he’s looking for a knockout as he doesn’t want to go to the scorecards in Lopez’s backyard. This means he’s probably going to come out swinging for the fences and he’s either going to land one on the button or walk into one of Lopez’s shots. It should be fun while it lasts and this is a tossup. Let’s figure Lopez has one more good fight in him and this is it as he wins his second straight against Ponce De Leon.
Odds
Sportsbook 5dimes.eu has the latest odds on all of the big fights with a Lopez win being listed at +175 and a Ponce De Leon victory at -210. Visit 5Dimes.eu to see up to date odds and to bet on this fight. You should also check out our recent boxing betting predictions to see how we’ve done of late capping the bouts.
Daniel Ponce De Leon betting • Juan Manuel Lopez betting