Q&A Ponce de Leon!

July 2, 2007

by Felipe Leon

photo by John Hardick

FightNews had the pleasure of visiting with a true warrior of the boxing world.

Daniel Ponce de Leon (31-1, 28 KOs) was present at last week’s “Guts and Glory” show presented by Bobby D. Presents. The WBO Super Bantamweight Champ defends his title against Rey “Boom Boom” Bautista as part of the Word Cup of boxing presented by Golden Boy Promotions August 11 from the Arco Arena in Sacramento, California.

The hard hitting Ponce de Leon, 26, speaks about this fight, his plans for the super bantamweight division and his prediction for Marquez-Vazquez II.

Daniel, you are in the middle of training for your fight with Rey “Boom Boom” Bautista, what are you expecting?

I expect a win. I am preparing at 100%. Even though we are about a month and a half from the fight, I feel ready and prepared to fight next week, whenever. I am always ready to fight and I am ready to beat Bautista.

You are training in Los Angeles, who are you using for sparring?

I am sparring with my usual team. Right now I am watching one of my sparring partners fight, who is Daniel Lomeli. Last week we used a couple of different guys, but we are choosing the appropriate sparring for this fight. I am not really interested in sparring too much, the fight is going to be the fight that is going to develop and the one that is better prepared and has the more will to win is the one that is going to do it.

What does it mean to you to fight as part of the World Cup of Boxing against the Philippines?

I feel at ease and happy. I was part of the first tournament that was against Thailand that we won and now we are ready to defend the cup against the Philippines and I am happy to represent Mexico like I have always have and especially in this cup.

Obviously you first have this fight against Bautista, but what do you expect from the super bantamweight division? You have Marquez, Vazquez, Molitor, Carvajal, are you looking to unify the division or what other plan would you have?

Well, I want to win this fight; I am very focused in this fight. Once I win this fight, I want to stay in this division, in the 122-lb, and defend my title against the best in the world, in attractive fights – in fight that the public wants to see. I am ready to fight anybody.

Would you like to face the winner of Marquez-Vazquez II?

Yes I would like to fight them. I would like the WBC belt. A unification fight against either one of them would be good and it would be very attractive for the boxing public. We are all Mexicans and, on one hand, I wouldn’t like to fight them because of that and I’d rather fight foreigners, but if the fight is made then I am ready to fight with either one of them.

Who do you see as the winner of that fight?

I think that the one that hits once hits twice so I see Marquez. Nothing is written I stone in boxing so Vazquez can win and he has another opportunity so he has to give it his all but I think that Marquez will win.

Would you like to send a message to your fans?

Well a hello to all of them and here I am representing Mexico 100% and trying hard and making sure that the championship stays in Mexico.