By Jim Dower: In a surprise upset, former WBO bantamweight champion Daniel Ponce De Leon was stopped in the 10th round by Miguel “Mickey” Roman (36-11, 35 KO’s) last Saturday night in their fight for the vacant WBC United States (USNBC) Silver super featherweight title at the Monumental Estadio de Beisbol in Cuauhtémoc, Chihuahua, Mexico. Ponce De Leon came into the fight having lost 2 out of his last 3 fights in stoppage losses to Juan Manuel Lopez and Abner Mares.

Roman knocked De Leon down in the 6th round, and he continued to punish De Leon with big shots with combination punching. In the 10th round, Roman hurt De Leon with a right hand and then unloaded on him with a flurry of hard shots that ended with the referee stepping in to halt the fight at 1:50 of the round.

De Leon reportedly said after the fight that he’ll be retiring from boxing. If that’s the case then De Leon will be known for his big victories over Jhonny Gonzalez, Antonio Escalante, Orlando Cruz, Cornelius Lock, Rey Bautista, Gerry Penalosa, Sod Kokietgym, Emmanuel Lucero, Joksan Hernandez, and his controversial loss to Adrien Broner.

De Leon still appears to have a little left in the tank, but he’s definitely struggled recently in his losses to Mares, Lopez and Roman. It might have been a better idea for De Leon to take a break for as little while after his knockout loss to Mares, because he rushed back into the ring 6 months later to face Hernandez. De Leon probably should have taken 9 months to a year off from boxing after that knockout.

Even with De Leon losing to Mares and Lopez, he would still likely beat Jhonny Gonzalez again if they were to fight, because De Leon seemed to have his number when the two of them fought in September 2012. De Leon won the fight by an 8 round technical decision.