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 | | Subject: Yuriorkis Gamboa vs Daniel Ponce De Leon set for Sept 10th/ Golden Boy & Top Rank make up Thu Jul 28, 2011 10:55 am | |
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- Featherweight contenders Yuriorkis Gamboa and Daniel Ponce De Leon will meet in a scheduled 12-round fight Sept. 10 at the Adrian Phillips Ballroom at Boardwalk Hall in Atlantic City, N.J., promoter Top Rank announced.
Besides matching two of the top 126-pounders in the world and two of the biggest punchers in the division, the fight formally brings to an end the long-standing cold war between rival promotional companies Top Rank, Gamboa's co-promoter, and Golden Boy, Ponce De Leon's promoter.
The promotional powerhouses -- boxing's two most significant promoters worldwide -- have long refused to work together while battling through numerous lawsuits and harsh words against each other related to a variety of issues, including the promotional contract of pound-for-pound king Manny Pacquiao and Pacquiao's defamation lawsuit against Golden Boy officers Richard Schaefer and Oscar De La Hoya.
However, when the defamation suit was settled out of court with the help of a mediator in May, it paved the way for the companies to agree to work together. It is the second time they have ended a feud during which they would not match their fighters.
Although Top Rank is the lead promoter, Gamboa-Ponce De Leon will mark the first fight they have made together since Pacquiao knocked out Ricky Hatton to win the junior welterweight championship 2½ years ago.
HBO will televise Gamboa-Ponce De Leon at 10:30 p.m. ET/PT on"World Championship Boxing," along with the primetime replay of heavyweight titlist Vitali Klitschko's defense against Tomasz Adamek, which will air live from Poland in the afternoon.
"I look forward to meeting Ponce De Leon. This will be the third straight world champion, or former world champion I have faced from Mexico," said Gamboa, who blew out interim junior lightweight titlist Jorge Solis in four rounds in March and outpointed Orlando Salido last September. "I know that Mexico has a great history of world champions, but so does Cuba. I welcome this chance I am getting to continue to prove I am one of the best pound-for-pound fighters in the world. I will not disappoint my fans."
Gamboa (20-0, 16 KOs), 29, a 2004 Cuban Olympic gold medalist who defected in 2007 and is now based in Miami, had unified featherweight titles when he beat Salido, but he has since been stripped of both belts. But even without a title, he is widely regarded as one of the rising stars in boxing.
"Yuriorkis Gamboa is one of the all-time great amateur fighters," Top Rank's Bob Arum said. "As a professional fighter he has been phenomenal. I cannot wait to see him against Daniel Ponce De Leon."
Ponce De Leon (41-3, 34 KOs), 31, a 2000 Olympian and former junior featherweight titlist, has been a top featherweight contender for the past few years. In his last bout, he moved up to junior lightweight in March and lost a debatable decision to Adrien Broner. He is returning to featherweight to face Gamboa.
"Gamboa is a good fighter and I know this is going to be a difficult fight," Ponce De Leon said. "But I know this is a fight that I can win and I'm going to train hard in Los Angeles to leave the ring with my hand raised in victory. I will not leave any excuses for after the fight."
Said Ahmet Öner, Gamboa's co-promoter from Arena Box U.S., "Ponce De Leon is certainly a very tough opponent. He's a former world champion who wants to show that he still has what it takes to win the big fights. He's also a hard puncher, which means that Yuri has to be careful. Still I know that Yuri wants to show the world that he is made for the big fights. For Yuri this fight is only one step further on his way to stardom." http://espn.go.com/boxing/story/_/id/6810794/yuriorkis-gamboa-fight-daniel-ponce-de-leon-atlantic-city-septembe |
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