September 10: The Battle Of Titans - Gamboa vs Ponce de Leon
Another great boxing carnage will set fire in Atlantic City! It's undefeated former World Boxing Association (WBA) Featherweight World Champion YURIORKIS GAMBOA versus a worthy opponent, former World Boxing Organization (WBO) Junior Featherweight World Champion DANIEL PONCE DE LEON. The two gladiators will clash teeth and bone in one of the season’s hottest fights. It will explode this coming Saturday, September 10, and the epicenter is at Adrian Phillips Ballroom at Atlantic City’s Boardwalk Hall. This 12-round breath-taking, on-the-edge-of-your-seat featherweight obliteration will be aired live on HBO’s World Championship Boxing. The boxing mayhem will start at 10:30 p.m. ET/PT (delayed on the West Coast.) The two fighters will get it on with a combined record of 61-3 (50 KOs) – a 95% winning percentage and a victory by way of knockout ratio of 82%.
This in-your-face carnage is promoted by Top Rank, in association with Arena Box U.S., Golden Boy Promotions, Caesars Atlantic City and sponsored by Cerveza Tecate. If you want to see it up close and personal, tickets will be available right now and are priced at $250, $100 and $50 and can be purchased at the Boardwalk Hall box office. Call Ticketmaster at (800) 736-1420 or online at ticketmaster.com.
As the fight nears, the word war between the two combatants will heat everything up. According to Ponce de Leon: “Gamboa is a good fighter and I know this is going to be a difficult fight. 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.”
According to Bob Arum, “Yuriorkis Gamboa is one of the all-time great amateur fighters. As a professional fighter, he has been phenomenal. I cannot wait to see him against Daniel Ponce De Leon on September 10.”
“Gamboa is one of the fastest and biggest stars in the squared circle these days,” Ahmet Öner added, president of Arena Box U.S. “Ponce de Leon is definitely a tougher-than-tough adversary. the guy's a former world champion who wants to show that he still got what it takes to win the big fights with no mercy. He’s also a hard puncher which can destroy Yuri if he is not 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 a hair away to stardom. I am definitely convinced that he will win and pass this test just like the tests he has taken so far. The guy is special and he will let the world see that again this September 10th. All boxing fans are in for a real treat. This is a fight where you cannot afford to even blink because both fighters will give it their all. I am looking forward to a spectacular show and I hope that Yuri can show his best performance again. He will need it against Ponce de Leon. If Yuri wins this fight he will be ready for even bigger things to come.”
“This is a great chance for Daniel Ponce De Leon to prove what we all know to be true…that he is among boxing's elite fighters,” added Richard Schaefer, CEO of Golden Boy Promotions. “Gamboa will be a great and tough challenge for him, but Ponce has the heart of a lion and determination of a true Mexican gladiator which will help him catapult his career to newer heights and become a victor. All of us at Golden Boy are looking forward to working with Top Rank on this great fight that no boxing fan should miss.”
“Caesars Atlantic City salutes and acknowledtes the return of Yuriorkis Gamboa, one of one of the most exciting fighters in boxing history,” said Ken Condon, Caesars Atlantic City Entertainment Sports & Entertainment Consultant. “On the heels of Yuri’s 4th-round knockout victory of Jorge Solis last March, we expect just as several various thrills when he goes head on with KO artist Daniel Ponce De Leon. Atlantic City is once again hot on the heels of boxing fans.”
Gamboa (20-0, 16 KOs), of Miami, Fla., captured Olympic gold for the Cuban team in the year 2004. He defected in 2007 to America, the same year he made his professional debut. Two years and 14 bouts later in the year 2009, he won the WBA’s Interim Featherweight Championshop by way of a 10th-round stoppage of Jose Rojas. Gamboa successfully defended the WBA title five times during his two-year reign, which included unifying the title with a 12-round unanimous decision victory over International Boxing Federation (IBF) World Champion Orlando Solis.
De Leon (41-3, 34 KOs), of Huntington Park, Calif., represented his country México in the Olympics in the year 2000. He made his professional debut after a year and he won 26 of his first 27 bouts, with only one victory going the distance. He captured the vacant WBO Junior Featherweight world title on October 29, 2005, winning a 12-round UD over then-undefeated Sod Looknongyantoy. He, then, successfully defended the title 6 times – four by KO during his three-year reign. Since losing the title to Juanma Lopez in 2008, De Leon has won 7 of his last eight bouts at the featherweight campaign which includes those in the WBA and WBO title elimination bouts against Roynet Caballero and Antonio Escalante, the former being in 2009 and the latter in 2010.
