By Dan Ambrose: The March 26th fight card headlined by Andre Ward vs. Sullivan Barrera will have unbeaten featherweight Joseph Diaz (19-0, 11 KOs) facing Jayson Velez (23-1-1, 16 KOs) in the co-feature bout on HBO at the Oracle Arena in Oakland, California.
It’s a decent fight. Velez was recently beaten by Ronny Rios last November by a 10 round unanimous decision on the Miguel Cotto vs. Saul “Canelo” Alvarez card at the Mandalay Bay Hotel & Casino Events Center in Las Vegas, Nevada.
By Michael Montero: Another actin-packed “LA Fight Night” card had the fans entertained throughout, as the top three bouts were aired live on Fox Sports 1 and Fox Deportes from the Belasco Theater in downtown Los Angeles.
In the TV opener, Los Angeles native Christian “Chimpa” Gonzalez went up against Darryl Hayes, of Houston.
LOS ANGELES (May 14) – After another sellout crowd at the May 7 installment of LA FIGHT CLUB, boxing’s popular new series on FOX Sports 1 and FOX Deportes is back and heating up as summer approaches. On Thursday, June 4, The Belasco Theater will once again host another sizzling edition as undefeated top prospect Jayson Velez (22-0-1, 16 KOs) of Caguas, Puerto Rico will battle it out against Mazatlan, Sinaloa, Mexico’s Daniel “Huracan” Ramirez (11-1, 5 KOs), in hopes of continuing his winning streak in a 10-round featherweight bout. Velez and Ramirez replace the previously announced Ronny Rios who had to withdraw due to injury.
By Dan Ambrose: Unbeaten #6 WBC featherweight contender Jayson Velez (20-0, 15 KO’s) has suffered an ankle injury and won’t be able to face WBC featherweight champion Daniel Ponce De Leon (44-4, 35 KO’s) on their scheduled March 2nd fight date on Showtime at the Apollo Theater, New York. The card will still take place on that date minus Velez-De Leon.
According to Steve Kim, Frank Espinosa, the manager for the 32-year-old De Leon, is confirming that Velez is pulling out of the fight with De Leon. There’s no word about when the two will be fighting.
By Dan Ambrose: It took WBC featherweight champion Daniel Ponce De Leon (44-4, 35 KO’s) four years to finally capture another world title after having lost his WBO super bantamweight title to a young Juan Manuel Lopez in June 2008 in a 1st round knockout loss.
Last September, De Leon defeated WBC featherweight champ Jhonny Gonzalez by an 8th round technical decision to capture the WBC title. Instead of being able to enjoy the title, De Leon’s brief time as the champion may end in his very first title defense against unbeaten #5 WBC Jayson Velez (20-0, 15 KO’s) on March 2nd in New York.
By Eric Thomas: WBC featherweight champion Daniel Ponce De Leon (44-4, 35 KO’s) will be making his first and possibly his last title defense against unbeaten #5 WBC, #11 WBO, #14 IBF contender Jayson Velez (20-0, 15 KO’s) on March 2nd at a venue still to be determined in the United States.
Ponce De Leon, 32, just finished capturing the World Boxing Council title in his last fight against former champion Jhonny Gonzalez in an 8th round technical decision victory in September. De Leon knocked Gonzalez in the 6th and the fight was halted in the 8th after Gonzalez suffered a bad cut over his right eye after the two fighters clashed heads.