Daniel Ponce de León (born July 27, 1980) is a Mexican former professional boxer who competed from 2001 to 2014. He was a world champion in two weight classes, having held the World Boxing Organization (WBO) super bantamweight title from 2005 and 2008, and the World Boxing Council (WBC) featherweight title from 2012 to 2013. As an amateur, Ponce de León won a bronze medal in the flyweight division at the 1999 Pan American Games, and was a member of the 2000 Mexican Olympic team in the featherweight division. He was trained by Vicente Juárez.

Early life Ponce de León is a Tarahumara Amerindian,Gorney, Cynthia (November 2008) Tarahumara People — National Geographic Magazine. Ngm.nationalgeographic.com. raised in the Sierra Madre Occidental mountain range. Out of five brothers he was the only one to survive, due to the harsh conditions in his tribal area, the Sierra Madre.Seckbach, Elie (2010-05-25) Ponce De Leon The Knockout Artist. boxing.fanhouse.com

Amateur career Ponce de León was a Mexican National Amateur champion and a bronze medalist at the 1999 Pan American Games. He then went on to represent Mexico at the 2000 Summer Olympics, where he was defeated in the first round by Ukraine's Volodymyr Sydorenko.

WBO junior featherweight champion On October 29, 2005 he defeated Sod Kokietgym by unanimous decision, handing Looknongyangtoy his first career loss.Knish, Joey (2006-10-20) Daniel Ponce De Leon In The Lion's Den. thesweetscience.com He has defended his WBO junior featherweight title eight times against Gerson Guerrero, Reynaldo Lopez, Sod Kokietgym twice, Al Seeger, Gerry Peñalosa, Rey Bautista and Eduardo Escobedo. Ponce de León's first loss was a unanimous decision loss to Celestino Caballero on February 17, 2005.

Ponce de León retained his title against Eduardo Escobedo on December 8, 2007 via unanimous decision, as part of the undercard of the Floyd Mayweather Jr.–Ricky Hatton fight.Photos – Daniel Ponce De Leon vs Eduardo Escobedo – Boxing news. Boxnews.com.ua (2010-01-30). Retrieved on 2014-02-01. On June 7, 2008 Ponce de León was defeated by technical knockout in the first round by Juan Manuel López, losing his WBO Super Bantamweight title.

Ponce de León was the headliner of a sold out Golden Boy showDaniel Ponce de Leon Scores KO Win, Vivian Harris Suffers TKO Loss . Eastsideboxing.com (2010-02-21). Retrieved on 2014-02-01. and inched closer to another world title shot by knocking out Puerto Rican, Orlando Cruz.Magno, Paul (2010-02-21) War in Mexico: Ponce De Leon, Segura, Chavez, Espadas in Action . Inside Fights. Ponce de León defeated Cornelius Lock on May 1, 2010 the undercard of Floyd Mayweather Jr. vs. Shane MosleySaul Alvarez and Daniel Ponce De Leon both collect wins on Floyd Mayweather-Shane Mosley undercard. fightnewsusa.com (2010-05-01) in the MGM Grand Garden Arena on HBO PPV to retain his WBC Latino featherweight title.Saul Alvarez and Daniel Ponce De Leon both collect wins on Floyd Mayweather-Shane Mosley undercard – ESPN. Sports.espn.go.com (2010-05-01). Retrieved on 2014-02-01.

Super featherweight contention On March 5, 2011, Ponce de León moved up to the super featherweight division to face undefeated prospect Adrien Broner. The fight was expected to be a showcase bout for the younger and larger Broner, however, Ponce de León proved to be more competitive than anticipated as Broner was awarded a highly disputed ten round unanimous decision.LaBate, Chris (2011-03-05) Adrien Broner Decisions Daniel Ponce De Leon in Ten – Boxing News. Boxingscene.com. Retrieved on 2014-02-01.

WBC featherweight champion In an upset, Ponce de León emerged victorious over WBC featherweight champion Jhonny Gonzalez, coming away with an eighth-round unanimous technical decision victory before a sold-out crowd at a Showtime-televised event at the MGM Grand.

The bout ended when a nasty gash emerged over the right eye of Gonzalez (52–8, 45 KOs), of Mexico City, after which it was determined that Gonzalez could not continue, they went to the scorecards and he won via: 79–72, 79–72, 77–74, all for Ponce de León. Ponce de León fought Abner Mares in the Mayweather-Guerrero undercard on May 4, 2013 and got knocked down in the second and ninth rounds en route to a TKO loss at 2:20 of the ninth round, losing his WBC featherweight title in the process.

Professional boxing record

ResultRecordOpponentTypeRound, timeDateLocationNotes52Loss45–7 Miguel Roman TKO9 (10), Jun 7, 2014 51Loss45–6 Juan Manuel LópezTKO2 (10), Mar 15, 201450Win45–5 Joksan HernandezUD10Nov 16, 2013 49Loss44–5 Abner MaresTKO9 (12), May 4, 2013 48Win44–4 Jhonny GonzálezTD8 (12), Sep 15, 2012 47Win43–4 Eduardo LazcanoUD10May 4, 2012 46Win42–4 Omar EstrellaKO6 (12), Jan 21, 2012 45Loss41–4 Yuriorkis Gamboa8 (12), Sep 10, 2011 44Loss41–3 Adrien BronerUD10Mar 5, 2011 43Win41–2 Sergio Manuel MedinaTKO7 (10), Dec 4, 2010 42Win40–2 Antonio EscalanteKO3 (12), Sep 18, 2010 41Win39–2 Cornelius LockUD10May 1, 2010 40Win38–2 Orlando CruzKO3 (12), Feb 20, 2010 39Win37–2 Roinet CaballeroUD12Sep 5, 2009 38Win36–2 Marlon AguilarUD12Apr 25, 2009 37Win35–2 Damian MarchianoKO4 (10), Nov 1, 2008 36Loss34–2 Juan Manuel LópezTKO1 (12), Jun 7, 2008 35Win34–1 Eduardo EscobedoUD12Dec 8, 2007 34Win33–1 Reynaldo LopezKO5 (10), Sep 28, 2007 33Win32–1 Rey BautistaTKO1 (12), Aug 11, 2007 32Win31–1 Gerry PeñalosaUD12Mar 17, 2007 31Win30–1 Al SeegerTKO8 (12), Oct 21, 2006 30Win29–1 Sod KokietgymKO1 (12), Jul 15, 2006 29Win28–1 Gerson GuerreroKO2 (12), May 27, 2006 28Win27–1 Sod KokietgymUD12Oct 29, 2005 27Win26–1 Phillip PayneTKO7 (12), Jun 24, 2005 26Win25–1 Ricardo BarajasKO2 (10), Apr 29, 2005 25Loss24–1 Celestino CaballeroUD12Feb 17, 2005 24Win24–0 Julio GamboaKO4 (10), Nov 19, 2004 23Win23–0 Emmanuel LuceroKO3 (12), Oct 22, 2004 22Win22–0 Carlos Contreras10Jun 11, 2004 21Win21–0 Anthony MartinezTKO7 (10), Apr 17, 2004 20Win20–0 Ivan AlvarezTKO5 (10), Mar 19, 2004 19Win19–0 Cesar FigueroaTKO6 (10), Feb 26, 2004 18Win18–0 Jesus Salvador PerezTKO1 (10), Jan 16, 2004 17Win17–0 Carlos DuranTKO3Nov 20, 2003 16Win16–0 Marcos BadilloKO3 (8), Sep 18, 2003 15Win15–0 Francisco TejedorTKO1 (8), Aug 28, 2003 14Win14–0 Missael NunezTKO4 (6), Jul 19, 2003 13Win13–0 Trinidad MendozaTKO2 (10)Feb 22, 2003 12Win12–0 Idelfonso MartinezTKO3 (10)Aug 17, 2002 11Win11–0 Manuel CastroKO1 (10), Aug 2, 2002 10Win10–0 Julio Cesar AvilaTKO2 (10)Jun 29, 2002 9Win9–0 Miguel RamirezKO1Feb 23, 2002 8Win8–0 Terry EvansKO2Dec 15, 2001 7Win7–0 Victor Manuel BarretoKO1 (10), Nov 23, 2001 6Win6–0 Diego Andrade4Nov 2, 2001 5Win5–0 Julio LunaTKO5 (6), Sep 1, 2001 4Win4–0 Jesus JimenezTKO1 (4), Jul 21, 2001 3Win3–0 Ernesto RiveraTKO3May 18, 2001 2Win2–0 Victor RodriguezTKO1 (4)May 1, 2001 1Win1–0 Servando Solis1 (10)Mar 31, 2001

Exhibition boxing record

ResultRecordOpponentTypeRound, timeDateLocationNotes10–0 Marco Antonio Barrera6Nov 20, 2021

See also List of super bantamweight boxing champions List of featherweight boxing champions List of WBO world champions List of WBC world champions List of Mexican boxing world champions

References

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