ATLANTIC CITY, N.J. — Add Juan Manuel Lopez to the roll call of Puerto Rican champions.
Following in the footsteps of such notable star champions from the island as Felix Trinidad and Miguel Cotto, Juan Manuel Lopez scored a stunning and unexpected first-round knockout of Mexico’s Daniel Ponce De Leon to win a junior featherweight world title on Saturday night at Boardwalk Hall.
Lopez, a 2004 Olympian, was the mandatory challenger but an underdog against the heavy punching Ponce De Leon, who had scored so many highlight reel knockouts in his career.
But Lopez, 24, turned the tables, and he did it quickly.
After Ponce De Leon began the round aggressively, Lopez caught him with left-right combination and knocked him down.
Ponce De Leon (34-2, 30 KOs) got up quickly, but was unsteady and it was apparent he had very little left.
Lopez (22-0, 19 KOs) attacked him and unloaded six unanswered punches until finally knocking sideways and down into the ropes for the second knockdown.
Although Ponce De Leon, who was making his seventh title defense, made it to his feet, he was in bad shape and referee Michael Ortega called it off at 2:25.
“I knew he was hurt and it was just a question of time until I landed another strong punch,” Lopez said. “I just needed to be smart because I knew he was so strong.”
The bout between southpaws was the main undercard fight on the show headlined by the Kelly Pavlik-Gary Lockett middleweight championship fight.
Ponce De Leon, 27, who represented Mexico in the 2000 Olympics, had only lost one previous fight, a decision to Celestino Caballero, who later won a world title. He was shocked by the defeat.
“He surprised me,” Ponce De Leon said. “I came so confident, but he hits hard. He knocked me down, but I think I could continue fighting. I’m OK physically and I hope he can give me a rematch.”
Lopez, a blue chip prospect since the day he turned pro with Top Rank, finally fulfilled the promise many believed he had.
“I know we were both hard punchers, but I thought I had more ability,” Lopez said. “I always had that great belief in myself but people have wanted me to show it. I hope I did. I hope I showed it to all of the people tonight, especially the people of Puerto Rico.”
Given that the fight so quick and easy, Top Rank is considering bringing Lopez back for his first defense on Aug. 30 on the pay-per-view card headlined by junior flyweight champion Ivan “Iron Boy” Calderon’s rematch with Hugo Cazares.
Mitchell prevails in American debut
Junior lightweight Kevin Mitchell (27-0, 20 KOs), one of England’s finest prospects, weathered some difficult moments against Colombia’s Walter Estrada, but stopped him at the end of the fifth round.
Mitchell, 23, the British and Commonwealth champion, was making his American debut against the experienced Estrada.
Estrada, 33, looked like he might pull the upset in the second round when he landed a series of blows that sent Mitchell wobbling around the ring. But Mitchell quickly regrouped.
Estrada, however, continued to give Mitchell problems as the swelling around Mitchell’s right eye showed.
However, Mitchell floored Estrada (34-6, 23 KOs) with a right hand to the body just before the fifth round ended. As referee Lindsey Page counted, the bell ending the round sounded. But a fighter cannot be saved by the bell and Page continued to count. Estrada beat the count, but Page called off the fight anyway, even though Estrada didn’t appear to be in bad shape and would have had the one-minute rest period to recover.
Estrada had faced quality competition, but was stopped by his two most notable opponents, former junior lightweight titleholder Vicente Mosquera and former featherweight beltholder Scott Harrison
The victory moved Mitchell a step closer to a possible all-British showdown with junior lightweight titleholder Alex Arthur of Scotland.
“I want to fight Arthur soon and take that world title off him,” Mitchell said. “He’s got a title defense coming up first so he gets to hold it for a bit longer, but once he fights me he knows it will be over.”
Dan Rafael is the boxing writer for ESPN.com.
