Daniel Ponce de Leon To Fight For WBA’s Interim Featherweight Title On Mosley-Berto Card?

by James Slater – The big fight card taking place on January 30th – with “Sugar” Shane Mosley defending his WBA welterweight title against the unbeaten Andre Berto, the WBC champ, in the main event and light-heavyweight contenders Glen Johnson and Yusaf Mack also colliding – could have another very intriguing fight added to it. According to BoxRec.com, punchers Daniel Ponce de Leon and Daud Cino Yordan will meet for the interim version of the WBA featherweight crown.

A tough fight to pick, de Leon-Yordan could either see the birth of a new star, or the re-emergence of an already well known name.. And yes, the WBA have really gone too far with their interim championships – after all, everyone knows Chris John is the real featherweight champion, and besides, the WBA already has an interim champ at the weight, in Yuriorkis Gamboa. Now we will have two interim belt-holders. This aside, the fight is a good one, and the action figures to be fan-friendly.

Southpaw de Leon, the former WBO super-bantamweight champion, obviously has the more easily recognisable name of the two 126-pounders, and since his disastrous 1st-round loss to Juan Manuel Lopez back in June of 2008, the 29-year-old has won three straight; with the last two taking place up at his new weight of featherweight. In the significantly younger Yordan, who is just 22, de Leon will be facing a largely unknown fighter.

At 25-0(19) Yordan has clearly got a fine record; but who has he been fighting? Well, the biggest name on the Indonesian’s record is that of current IBF super-featherweight champ Robert Guerrero. The two fought to a No Contest back in March of 2009, when the fight was stopped due to how an accidental clash of heads left Guerrero cut. Other than that fight, which took place in California, practically all of Yordan’s bouts took place in Indonesia (Yordan has fought in Las Vegas one time). And there are no other recognisable names on the unbeaten fighter’s record.

de Leon, 37-2(31) always has and always will have a puncher’s chance to end a fight early. This will be the case on Jan. 30th. The big question, though, is how much does the Mexican banger have left? His last two fights went 12 rounds, and this has led some to wonder whether or not he’s carried his power up with him from 122-pounds. If he hasn’t, he could be in trouble against the hugely ambitious and determined Yordan.

Still, the shock blow-out he suffered at the hands of “Juanma” aside, de Leon has never been stopped, and he has lost just one other fight – on points to the fine Celestino Caballero (in 2005). The January fight will be a real test for both men, and the bout is probably a 50-50 affair.

I go for the younger man to pound out a decision over the southpaw assassin, but I don’t make my prediction with any genuine conviction. A fighter as dangerous as de Leon can never be written off!