Ponce De Leon shows big left
After he pulled himself off the canvas in defeat, Reynaldo Lopez made a point of saying he wasn’t entirely impressed with Daniel Ponce De Leon’s boxing ability.
In becoming Ponce De Leon’s 30th knockout victim in 34 fights, Lopez became the latest to realize the flaw in his critique.
Ponce De Leon’s left hand is a devastating weapon that can fatigue skilled former title-fight contenders like Lopez and finish them off too.
On Friday night, in the main event of the inaugural boxing card at the Morongo Casino Resort and Spa in Cabazon, Ponce De Leon (33-1) unleashed his powerful left routinely enough to win by a fifth-round knockout.
“The guy knows how to box, but once I put my shots on his head and body, I knew it was over,” Ponce De Leon said.
The World Boxing Organization’s super-bantamweight champion, Ponce De Leon agreed to fight less than seven weeks after his Aug. 11 technical knockout of Rey Bautista as a tribute to the Morongo Band of Mission Indians who operate the resort. Ponce De Leon is a member of Mexico’s Tarahumara tribe.
The bout was a non-title fight as Ponce De Leon, 27, fought at 123 1/2 pounds, in the junior-featherweight category.
Lopez, 33, fought at 121 1/2 pounds Friday after a lengthy career at 115 pounds, where he lost a World Boxing Council super-flyweight title fight to Cristian Mijares last year.
Lopez (27-6-2) had never been knocked out, but the southpaw Ponce De Leon continually stung him, pounding a first-round left to his nose, establishing himself as the more powerful and faster puncher while first wobbling Lopez in the third round.
Lefts continued snapping Lopez’s neck backward in the fourth round.
In the fifth, a big left backed Lopez to the ropes, and a follow-up left knocked him down, ending the bout with 21 seconds left in the round.
“For me, it was not surprising,” said Ponce De Leon, who said he’d like to fight again in November or December.
Also Friday, Mexico’s Eduardo Escobedo (20-2, 14 KOs) knocked out previously unbeaten Jose Mendoza (21-1-1) in the sixth round to capture the vacant NABO featherweight title.
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