Ponce De Leon ready for Atlantic City bout

-Courtesy of Golden Boy Promotions

LOS ANGELES, CA, May 30 ---- After an open media workout in Los Angeles yesterday, WBO World Junior Featherweight Champion Daniel Ponce De Leon (34-1, 30 KO’s) declared that he is mentally and physically ready for his world title defense against Puerto Rico’s Juan Manuel Lopez (21-0, 19 KO’s) on Saturday, June 7 at Boardwalk Hall in Atlantic City, New Jersey. The bout, which will be televised live on HBO’s World Championship Boxing, should be another in a long line of classic match-ups between a Mexican fighter and a Puerto Rican fighter.

“I’ve trained really hard for this fight and I’m positive that all of my hard work in the gym will show during the fight,” said De Leon yesterday during a media workout at “El Cache” Gym in Vernon, a Los Angeles suburb. “I’ve had great sparring partners and a great camp and I know Lopez has done the same, but my experience, my power and my strength will be the key to me leaving the ring with my belt around my waist next Saturday night.”

A Mexican Olympian with concussive knockout power who participated in the 2000 Games in Sydney, De Leon, who originally hails from Cuauhtémoc, Mexico, is finishing his final preparations and is already on weight for next weekend's championship showdown even though he doesn't break camp and depart Los Angeles until Tuesday.

De Leon will be making his seventh defense of his WBO World Junior Featherweight title which he captured on October 29, 2005 with a unanimous decision victory against Thailand’s Sod Looknongyangtoy. In his last bout, De Leon beat Mexico’s highly regarded Eduardo Escobedo on points on December 8, 2007.

The De Leon-Lopez bout is presented by Golden Boy Promotions and Top Rank and is the co-featured attraction of the June 7 edition of HBO’s World Championship Boxing which features Kelly Pavlik (33-0, 29 KOs), from Youngstown, OH, who makes his first title defense against No. 1 contender and mandatory challenger Gary Lockett (30-1, 21 KOs), from Cwmbran, Wales in the main event and will be televised live at 10:05 p.m. ET/7:05 p.m. PT from Boardwalk Hall in Atlantic City, NJ.

Remaining tickets, priced at $300, $200, $100 and $50, can be purchased at the Boardwalk Hall box office, by calling Ticketmaster (800) 736-1420 or online at www.ticketmaster.com.