Juan Manuel Lopez vs. Daniel Ponce De Leon II: Saturday
night is being headlined by a fight on Showtime between Danny Garcia
and Mauricio Herrera but the action will start on Showtime Extreme. The
fight that will air before regular Showtime card starts is a bout
between Juan Manuel Lopez (33-3, 30 KO) and Daniel Ponce De Leon (45-5,
35 KO) and is scheduled to go 10 rounds in the junior lightweight
division. The fight will be a rematch of their 2008 bout which Lopez
won by 1st round knockout after dropping Ponce De Leon twice and will
also once again renew the best rivalry in boxing, Puerto Rico vs.
Mexico. Three years ago Lopez was considered one of the best fighters
in the sport, that was until he ran into Orlando Salido who stopped him
in the 5th round of their fight and gave Lopez his first loss. Lopez
has lost twice since then, being stopped by Salido again and then losing
to Mikey Garcia by 4th round stoppage. Lopez's fight against Garcia
was the last time he was in the ring and he will look to rebound against
Ponce De Leon who also has some high profile losses. Ponce De Leon has
five losses and they have come against the likes of Abner Mares,
Yuriorkis Gamboa, and Adrien Broner. Both fighters have above average
power but Lopez's power is unreal. Out of his 33 wins only 3 went the
distance. What makes him so dangerous is the fact that he carries so
much power in both hands and goes equally well to the head and body.
Unfortunately Lopez also has a very weak chin with all of his losses
coming from being stopped. Lopez should be extra agressive against
Ponce De Leon since he knocked him out in the 1st round of their
previous fight. If Lopez can't dispatch Ponce De Leon early look for
him to pick his spots to get inside and land a powerful attack. Ponce
De Leon is also a powerful fighter who happens to have a questionable
chin. Ponce De Leon will probably try to get inside where he can
smother some of the power of Lopez and land an attack of his own. His
hands aren't as fast as Lopez so fighting on the inside would be better
for him. If this fight takes place in the center of the ring the
superior hand speed of Lopez should be able to outpoint Ponce De Leon.
This fight will bring a ton of excitment because either fighter could
score a knockout at any moment. If the fight gets into the later rounds
I think it favors the warrior Ponce De Leon however I don't think it
will go that far. I'm expecting Lopez to be able to stick and move
early on, land some power in the middle rounds, and ultimately stop
Ponce De Leon in the 7th round.
Comments
Post a Comment