By Jose Luis Camarillo, notifight.com

According to WBC featherweight champion Daniel Ponce De Leon, he will defend his championship against top challenger Jayson Velez of Puerto Rico on March 9th. Golden Boy Promotions is staging a Showtime televised card on that date, with Bernard Hopkins headlining at Barclays Center in Brooklyn, New York.

This would be the first defense for Ponce (44-4, 35KOs) since winning the title via an eight round technical decision over Jhonny Gonzalez in September. Velez (20-0, 15KOs) won the WBC's silver title with a three round destruction of Salvador Sanchez II on December 1.