Daniel Ponce De Leon vs. Joksan Hernandez: Preview, Prediction for Upcoming Bout
Daniel Ponce De Leon will take on Joksan Hernandez on Saturday night in his native Mexico, and he'll be looking to get his career back on track after a stunning defeat earlier this year.
Ponce De Leon is a two-time former world champion at super bantamweight and featherweight. He's known for being a tad crude in the ring, and he focuses most of his attention on the offensive part of the game.
That means he both hits and gets hit a lot, and that makes him exciting to watch.
Hernandez, on the other hand, is more of a journeyman fighter who has a few names on his resume that you might recognize. He'll enter the ring on Saturday night as an opponent, and most will certainly expect that he'll leave with another loss on his ledger. But he's tough and rugged; he will not go down without an effort.
Within you'll find all you need to know about this fight. This is your complete preview and prediction for Ponce De Leon vs. Hernandez.
Tale of the Tape
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It's difficult to make any significant comparisons, since not much is known about Joksan Hernandez outside of circles in his native Mexico.
What we can see clearly is that both guys have knockout power. But since Daniel Ponce De Leon has been in the ring with a far higher level of competition, he definitely gets the edge in that category.
The one big advantage that Hernandez has is his age. He's six years younger and presumably less shopworn than his opponent.
This fight will also be contested at junior lightweight, where Ponce De Leon hasn't found much success in his career.
| Record | Daniel Ponce De Leon 44-5, 35 KO | Joksan Hernandez 23-5-1, 15 KO |
| Age | 33 | 27 |
| Height | 5'5" | Unlisted |
| Reach | 70" | Unlisted |
| Weight | 126 (last fight) | Unlisted |
| Stance | Southpaw | Orthodox |
| Hometown | Ciudad Cuauhtemoc, Chihuahua, Mexico | Ensenada, Baja California, Mexico |
| Rounds Boxed | 251 | 188 |
Main Storylines
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Daniel Ponce De Leon is a former super bantamweight and featherweight champion with an exciting style and a solid record as a professional. He's badly in need of a victory if he hopes to once again challenge for a world championship. A loss in this fight would likely signal the end of his career as a contender.
He has solid punching power, and he's been in the ring with a lot of quality fighters, but each time he's stepped up in class, he's been defeated. His biggest fights—and losses—have come against Juan Manuel Lopez. Adrien Broner, Yuriorkis Gamboa and Abner Mares.
Ponce De Leon did defeat Jhonny Gonzalez, a victory that looks even better in light of Gonzalez's one-round blitz of Mares earlier this year.
Joksan Hernandez is a journeyman fighter who has faced a couple of names you've heard of, but none who make you jump out of your seat. That's why he was chosen for this fight.
He's well-known in Mexico, but he doesn't provide the serious level of risk that will lead people to conclude that he has what it takes to pull off an upset.
He's just 2-3-1 in his last six outings. He scored a second-round TKO over Hector Rivera in his last bout. Rivera's record coming into the fight? A sporting 1-19-1.
Yeah. It's just one of those fights.
Strengths
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Daniel Ponce De Leon is a powerful puncher who comes into the ring with a ton of guts, determination and heart. He's the type of fighter who doesn't get rattled when things don't go well, and you can bank on him continuing to go for the win, even when the odds seem long.
As a former two-time world champion, he's been in the ring with a much higher level of opposition than his foe. That should allow him to exploit his strengths and hide the weaknesses that have made him a foil for the upper echelon fighters in the sport.
Joksan Hernandez has some decent pop on his punches. He's stopped 15 foes in his 23 wins, and he'll have the benefit of fighting on Saturday night with virtually nothing to lose. If he does lose, everyone expected him to anyway.
If he finds a way to win, then he's still just 27 years old and has the potential to elevate his career.
Weaknesses
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Daniel Ponce De Leon is a warrior. That's for sure.
But he sometimes relies too much on that warrior spirit. He's beatable by fighters who are able to outbox him, or those who have the ability to outgun him with bigger punches.
Juan Manuel Lopez blew him out of the ring in one round, and Abner Mares broke him down and stopped him in nine. Adrien Broner and Yuriorkis Gamboa both outboxed him. So if you're either a slicker boxer or a heavy-handed puncher, you can find success against a tough but beatable Ponce De Leon.
Joksan Hernandez is fighting the best opponent of his career. Up to this point, his biggest win came in 2010 when he stopped Miguel Beltran Jr. in the 10th round. Beltran would go on to drop an absolute war against former featherweight champion Rocky Martinez last year.
Hernandez enters the fight on Saturday night on a bad streak. He's only won once since 2011, and that came against an opponent who had only won once in 21 professional bouts, and his one win came eight years ago. He's a few levels below what he'd need to be for a fight of this nature.
Daniel Ponce De Leon Will Win If...
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Daniel Ponce De Leon should win this fight quite handily as long as he hasn't gotten old overnight. He lost his last fight against Abner Mares, but he wasn't outclassed.
It was an extremely physical fight, and he was dropped twice before the stoppage, but he did get in his share of punches as well. He appeared to find a great deal of success in the middle rounds.
Ponce De Leon will win this fight by doing what he does best: looking for opportunities to uncork big, if crude, power punches and forcing his opponent to fight going backwards.
He needs to make Joksan Hernandez feel his power early and often. It's not something the 27-year-old has faced before in his career—at least at this level—and there's nothing to indicate he'll be able to handle this pressure.
Joksan Hernandez Will Win If...
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Let's be real here.
Joksan Hernandez is being brought along to this fight on Saturday night as an opponent. Should Daniel Ponce De Leon show up without having gotten old overnight, there is little chance he wins this fight.
His best chance would be to try and outbox his opponent. That's what Adrien Broner and Yuriorkis Gamboa did, but it's not unfair to say that Hernandez isn't anywhere near the level of either guy.
Ponce De Leon is hittable, and he isn't that fast. He can take a punch, but he can also be broken down.
It's probably best for Hernandez to try and utilize an in-and-out attack to frustrate his opponent, to try to break him down without taking unnecessary risks.
And the Winner Will Be...
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Daniel Ponce De Leon needs to win this fight, and he'll win it with relative ease. There's just nothing in his resume or style that suggests that Joksan Hernandez can score what would be a pretty big upset.
Look for Ponce De Leon to open the fight aggressively, looking to make a statement and get Hernandez in serious trouble in the early rounds.
Hernandez has only been stopped once in his career—against former world title challenger Eduardo Escobedo in 2011—but that's exactly what'll happen to him on Saturday night.
Prediction: Ponce De Leon TKO 3 Hernandez
