Boxing: De Leon explosive with KO of Lucero

Undefeated bomber Daniel Ponce De Leon showed not only power but explosiveness from a variety of punches on Friday night in leveling New York bomber Emmanuel Lucero. The Telefutura broadcast of the Golden Boy Promotions headliner was all action from the opening moments of the first round. Lucero came to El Paso, Texas, intending to go home as early as possible. Both fighters landed heavy shot early, but it was De Leon who seemed the more resilient fighter on the exchanges.

The real difference in these two highly competitive jr. featherweights was De Leon's ability to go to the body with accuracy and not just volume. When the balance of the fight began to shift at the close of the second round, De Leon followed up in the third to the body of Lucero, 22-3-1, dropping the New Yorker a hard right hand to the body; the finish came from a left uppercut at 2:50 of the third round. For his troubles De Leon took home the NABO jr. featherweight belt in moving his record to a spotless 21-0 (20). With his explosiveness and ability to finish off fighters in creatively stunning ways it looks like De Leon has mostly bright lights in his immediate future and Oscar De La Hoya's promotional company have an interesting fighter to market and develop for a title shot.