08.06.08 – by James Slater: Wow, wow and wow again! What else can you say about what happened in last night’s chief supporting bout at The Boardwalk in Atlantic City? We all knew that unbeaten 24-year-old Puerto Rican Juan Manuel Lopez was a good fighter, but he was going in against the fearsome and lethal punching WBO super-bantamweight king Daniel Ponce de Leon of Mexico. Many people felt it would be the champion, who had knocked out a previous 30 opponents and had only lost once before – by decision – to be the man scoring the fast KO..
But no, Lopez, in catapulting himself to the top of his weight division, scored a shocking and brutally efficient KO at just 2 minutes and 25 seconds of the 1st round. Now with a superb record of 22-0(20), the 24-year-old and newest sensation from the island of Puerto Rico, never let de Leon get into the fight. Indeed, the 27-year-old now ex-champ didn’t know what hit him!
Coming out fast as he often does, de Leon stalked fellow southpaw Lopez and was looking for a quick stoppage win. Careless with his own defence, however, the champion was caught by a nasty little short right hook to the head, one that was perfectly delivered. The Mexican puncher was badly hurt and after briefly staggering back on his legs he crashed to the canvas. Up quite quickly, de Leon was obviously in bad shape. Dazed, stumbling around and squinting through glassy eyes, de Leon’s defeat was imminent. Lopez wasted no time in finishing the fight, and, in a calm and professional manner, he ended matters. The soon to be ex-champion tried to fight back but his shots were wild. Now being forced back, de Leon was all gone.
Finally stuck in a corner, the Mexican was to take a barrage of shots before going down for the second and last time. A right hand by Lopez was the last punch that landed before de Leon hit the mat again. The Mexican warrior bravely got up again, but in falling back into the ropes as he did so, referee Michael Ortega had no choice but to stop the fight – a fight that had quickly turned into a slaughter.
The owner of a 1st round TKO that will be the subject of a lot of excited talk, Juan Manuel Lopez gave the fans something that was truly awesome last night. For de Leon, who was also cut above his left eye, the future looks somewhat doubtful. Still, in losing for only the second time and now being 34-2(30) maybe the Mexican puncher can come again.