DANIEL PONCE DE LEON vs AL SEEGER Preview

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There is no mystery what the tactics will be when bomber Daniel Ponce De Leon meets slick-boxing Al Seeger in the 122-pound championship match that headlines Saturday’s “Mexican Glory” PPV show.

De Leon, the heavy-handed Mexican southpaw promoted by Golden Boy Promotions, will be coming out slugging, relying on power and pressure.

Seeger, the underdog challenger from Savannah, GA, will be using a boxing, moving style, seeking to score points without getting hit by a big punch.

To win, the 26-year-old Seeger will have to box a near-perfect fight. One mistake on Seeger’s part might not be the end of the fight, but he cannot afford to make too many.

This is realised all too well in the Seeger camp. Speaking over the phone from Savannah this week. Seeger’s longtime trainer, Mike Jarrell, said: “I think it’s a tough fight but my opinion is we can win by going the distance. Al’s ready to go 12 rounds and I think Al can outpoint him. We want to get him frustrated in the first four or five rounds. We’ve watched every tape. He telegraphs his punches when he gets frustrated. He’s a tremendous puncher — but they’re underestimating Al’s punching power. But there’s no way we’re looking to go into a war with him.”

Can Seeger outbox the stronger De Leon for 12 rounds, though? It is going to be a very difficult thing to do, but Seeger has at times boxed beautifully in winning his last eight fights, which includes outclassing a couple of normally solid Mexicans, Cesar Figueroa, whom he stopped in eight rounds, and the Olympic representative Cesar Morales, who was blown away in two rounds.

These were excellent wins, even if Figueroa and Morales had been showing signs of wear and tear — indeed, Figueroa had previously been battered in six rounds by De Leon while Morales had been halted in his last fight.

Still, Seeger did a very professional job on both opponents.

In his only loss Seeger ran out of steam and was stopped in the 10th round by journeyman Phillip Payne on a hot and humid night outdoors in Savannah two years ago.

There were extenuating circumstances, though. Mike Jarrell said that Seeger had picked up a virus that drained him. “I’m not blaming the heat that night — it was hot for both kids,” Jarrell said, “but I blame myself. I should have pulled the kid out. He was weak — he walked into that fight probably weighing 112 pounds whereas normally he walks in at 130.”

In a rematch, Seeger hammered Payne in four rounds, although it should be noted that 10 months previously De Leon had brutally pounded Payne in seven rounds.

It is De Leon’s sheer physical strength, his ability to hurt his opponent at any time, that makes him the clear favourite. Seeger is a much more stylish boxer than De Leon, taller and faster, but the “Quiet Storm” has never faced anyone like the relentless De Leon.

De Leon just keeps on coming. He showed his heart and resiliency in a 12-round war with the freakishly tall Panamanian Celestino Caballero, who inflicted his only loss. De Leon stoically endured punishment and although well beaten he actually won the last round on all three judges’ scorecards, which goes to show that he will keep trying to the bitter end — and this was against the fighter who has just destroyed the Thai, Somsak, in three rounds to become a world champion.

We saw De Leon’s dogged determination again when he outlasted the Thai, Sod Looknongyangtoy, in a tough 12-rounder in which the Mexican had to get off the floor to win.

Seeger has never been in long, gruelling fights such as De Leon's fights with Caballero and Looknongyantoy. How will he hold up if the fight goes into the middle and later rounds, and De Leon is coming at him and winging big punches from all angles?

I thought that Seeger looked wobbly a few times in his win over Eric Aiken a couple of years ago, and he was down in the opening round when the switch-hitter surprised him with a right hook thrown from the southpaw posture. To his credit, though, Seeger came back and controlled most of the fight against an opponent who hits hard — and Aiken subsequently won a featherweight title.

Seeger has had good southpaw sparring for this fight and his camp has done its homework. “We brought in Oscar Leon [the world-class Colombian featherweight] and Tyrese Hendrix, a young lightweight who is a big guy for his weight and tremendous puncher and Al’s come a long way with left-handers,” Mike Jarrell said. “He was outpointing Leon in every round they sparred.”

Yes, this is a huge step up — and in front of a crowd that is likely to be hostile — but Jarrell said: “Really, the pressure’s not going to be on Al, it’s going to be on De Leon. Al can lose a good fight and come back, Ponce De Leon’s got to prove himself.

“Al’s been boxing since he was 10 years old and he’s boxed with a lot of good fighters — Ebo Elder, Nate Campbell, anyone who would spar with him. He had a tremendous amateur career — he won the JOs [Junior Olympics] twice and was runner-up in the nationals but got disqualified because there was a miscommunication and he got to the arena too late.”

Jarrell believes that Seeger is simply a different fighter from the one who had the shaky patches against Erik Aiken. “He’s matured now — he’s a man,” Jarrell said. “He’s turned into a true professional fighter.”

Indeed it is possible to see Seeger boxing his way to a big upset. Then one thinks of the way De Leon won his last two title defences in a total of three rounds — the way he knocked out the Thai Looknongyangtoy with a big left hand in just 52 seconds in their rematch — and one has to wonder how Seeger can possibly keep this monster at bay for 12 rounds.

The one thing we might be overlooking is Seeger’s own punching ability. If he can land punches that are hard enough to bother De Leon and get him to show respect, it might give Seeger the chance to get into the flow of his boxing and start winning rounds. One thing about Seeger: he does seem to have genuine self-belief. Seeger is coming to win. I do not think he will be intimidated, and I agree with Mike Jarrell that Seeger is looking stronger and much more mature than when he beat Eric Aiken.

If Seeger fights the fight of his life, he can pull this off. Cold logic, however, tells me that De Leon is going to be too powerful, too insistent and too difficult to discourage: The good thing from Seeger’s perspective is that logic often flies out of the window when a fight unfolds.


I hope pONCE ktfo sEEGer and then fights Boom Boom Bautista!