By Ryan Burton

WBC featherweight champion Jhonny Gonzalez was a recent visitor to The Boxing Lab, Boxingscene's official audio show. Gonzalez spoke to us about his upcoming fight against Daniel Ponce De Leon. This coming Saturday, the fight serves as the chief support to Canelo Alvarez's title defense against Josesito Lopez at the MGM Grand in Las Vegas. The SHowtime televised portion of the card will also feature Marcos Maidana taking on Jesus Soto Karass and Leo Santa Cruz making the first defense of his IBF bantamweight title against Eric Morel.

Many fans think that the Gonzalez-Ponce De Leon fight will steal the show. Gonzalez agrees, citing both Ponce De Leon and his own experience as reasons why there fight will be exciting.

"I think it will be a Fight of the Year candidate. We are both very experienced fighters and have faced great fighters. I think it will be a great battle and I think it will for sure be the fight of the night," stated Gonzalez.

The Mexico City resident has been on a roll since his last defeat which was a knockout loss to Toshiaki Nishioka. Gonzalez didn't want to make excuses for the loss but said that he had problems outside of the ring that contributed to his performance and he also departed ways with his father as his trainer after the fight.

"I think that I wasn't focused that night.  I had family problems as well but Nishioka beat me fair and square. He hit me with me a great shot and won the fight.  After the fight I left my dad and went with Nacho (Beristain) to be my trainer and my career took off again" Gonzalez explained.  

Gonzalez also spoke about his struggles against left handed fighters.  Four of his seven career losses have came against lefties. Gonzalez says that each fight is different and that he has had plenty of success against southpaws as well. 

"I have had problems but every loss that I had were for different circumstances. I had problems making weight with Peñalosa. I've also had success with southpaws and knocked them out before. I'm not worried so much about him being a southpaw so much but I am worried abut a clash of heads because of his style," Gonzalez revealed.

Gonzalez finished our conversation by saying that he is going to fight a smart fight and that he will be ready for what ever Ponce De Leon brings to the table. 

"We think that Ponce De Leon is going to come out aggressive and try to land that left hand like Nishioka did.  We will be ready for that.  You are going to see a more intelligent Jhonny Gonzalez with fast hands in the ring on September 15th."

You can listen to the interview in its entirety by clicking here: http://tobtr.com/s/3532747

Send questions or comments to ringsidewriter@gmail.com Follow Ryan on Twitter @ringsidewriter and tune in to The Boxing Lab, BoxingScene's official audio on Tuesdays. The show is hosted by Ernie Gabion, Luis Sandoval and Ryan Burton.