Team Gamboa Rip Gonzalez, Praise Ponce De Leon Bout

By Jhonny Gonzalez

Yuriorkis Gamboa is ready for a tough featherweight battle with Daniel Ponce De Leon of Mexico, which is scheduled to headine an HBO televised card on September 10 at the Boardlwalk Hall in Atlantic City. The fight will be the first co-promotion between rival promoters Top Rank and Golden Boy Promotions since 2009.

But Gamboa (20-0, 16 KO) and his team had another opponent in mind,  WBC featherweight champion Jhonny Gonzalez (48-7, 42 KOs), but Gamboa's lawyer, Tony Gonzalez, confirms that Gonzalez's team turned down a lucrative offer for the fight.

"They are simply afraid of Yuri and they know that Jhonny would be in grave danger of losing his belt. But we're happy with Ponce. He is an opponent with skill, with a lot of heart and he will only help further the career of Yuri," Gonzalez told George Ebro.