Featherweight star Yuriorkis Gamboa would love to still have the title belt that was unceremoniously stripped from him by a sanctioning body this summer for no apparent reason. But Gamboa knows it is even more important -- if he wants to make big money and earn wider recognition -- to just keep beating top opponents in impressive style, hardware be damned.

That's what the blindingly fast and powerful 2004 Cuban Olympic gold medalist will aim to do when he meets Mexican slugger Daniel Ponce De Leon, a former junior featherweight titlist, in a matchup of crowd-pleasing 126-pounders.

The fight is on Saturday night (HBO, 10:30 ET/PT) at the Adrian Phillips Ballroom at Boardwalk Hall in Atlantic City, N.J., a scheduled 12-rounder that will advance the winner to greater stardom regardless of whether a belt is strapped around his waist.

"I think he's a very good fighter, a very good boxer, but I am not here really to talk about the fight," Gamboa said. "I am going to show it on [Saturday] in the ring. From there, we will go on."

Said Ponce De Leon: "Gamboa is a very good fighter. He is tough. But I fought the best in the past. I fought them all, and I'm looking forward to this fight.

"I know it is a very important fight, and that's why I accepted it. I take challenges. I love challenges. I took Gamboa because he is the best in the division, the most dangerous in the division. But I feel very good. I feel very comfortable, and I've trained very hard, and I'm going in there to win. I'm still young, and a loss doesn't cross my mind."

The HBO telecast will open with a replay of the fight that will air live earlier in the day between heavyweight titlist Vitali Klitschko and Tomasz Adamek from Wroclaw, Poland.

Gamboa hopes to eventually clean out the featherweight division and move up in weight to do the same there.

"I am ready to fight at 126, 130 or 135," Gamboa said. "I am ready for anything. Right now, this [fight] is something the promoters want. I will fight at any of those weights. I just want the big fights."

Daniel Ponce De Leon will be the third consecutive titlist or former titlist Yuriorkis Gamboa will have faced. Jed Jacobsohn/Getty Images

Ponce De Leon will be the third consecutive titleholder or former titleholder from Mexico whom Gamboa will face. That fact isn't lost on him.

"I know that Mexico has a great history of world champions, but so does Cuba," he said. "I welcome this chance I am getting to continue to prove I am one of the best pound-for-pound fighters in the world. I will not disappoint my fans."

Indeed, the 29-year-old Gamboa (20-0, 16 KOs) blew away Jorge Solis, a top 130-pounder who came down in weight, dropping him five times en route to a fourth-round knockout in March. In his previous fight, Gamboa outpointed Orlando Salido, who would later score a major upset by knocking out titlist Juan Manuel Lopez -- the big fight Top Rank was moving Gamboa toward before it went up in smoke as a result of Lopez's defeat.

"I want to box with the best and do the big fights," said Gamboa, who lives in Miami after defecting from Cuba in 2007. "Whatever they bring to me, that's what I am going to do."

Fighting Ponce De Leon (41-3, 34 KOs), 31, doesn't come without danger. Although Gamboa's speed is on a different level, Ponce De Leon is known for his prodigious power.

"Yuriorkis Gamboa is recognized as one of the great fighters in boxing today," said Bob Arum, Gamboa's co-promoter, who is putting on the fight with Golden Boy Promotions' Richard Schaefer, Ponce De Leon's promoter. "He's going to be tested by Ponce De Leon, who is a tremendous puncher and a very good fighter. So it should be an extremely interesting match."

With the rival companies calling a truce in their bitter business battle, this is the first fight they are working on together since they co-promoted Manny Pacquiao-Ricky Hatton in May 2009.

The promoters have sought to keep the focus on the fight, not their relationship.

"No question about it that Gamboa is a tremendous fighter with a tremendous background with a gold medal," Schaefer said. "Ponce De Leon is a 2000 Olympian as well. He has a tremendous record with huge punching power, and that's what he's going to be looking for -- to take it to Gamboa and show what he's all about. He's looking for his second world title in a second weight class."

Arum promotes several top featherweights, so if Gamboa gets past Ponce De Leon, a number of interesting fights await him. He is planning a Salido-Lopez rematch and would like to match Gamboa with the winner next year.

But there is an even more intriguing showdown on Arum's mind. He also promotes bantamweight champion Nonito Donaire, one of the world's top five pound-for-pound fighters. Donaire is scheduled to defend his title Oct. 22, then plans to move up to junior featherweight and, eventually, to featherweight.

Gamboa could be waiting for him.

"Probably the biggest fight in the featherweight division would be against the up-and-coming bantamweight champion Nonito Donaire, who will be going up to featherweight next year -- and that should be a big, big match," Arum said.

Ponce De Leon doesn't have a huge fight looming for him if he beats Gamboa. He's just trying to re-establish himself in the featherweight division.

He was closing in on a title opportunity when he was offered a chance to face rising junior lightweight contender Adrien Broner, who is also with Golden Boy, in an HBO fight in March. So he moved up in weight and gave Broner everything he could handle in a controversial decision loss.

Ponce De Leon is now back at featherweight with no regrets about the fight against Broner.

"Everybody saw the fight," Ponce De Leon said. "I took the fight because an opportunity was presented to me. It was a fight that could be done through our promoter. I took it, and everybody saw the results, except the judges.

"It was an opportunity and I took it because I felt I could beat Broner. I wanted to check to see how I felt at 130. But right now, 126 is best for me."

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