Angelo Miguel Leo (born May 15, 1994) is an American

professional boxer Professional boxing, or prizefighting, is regulated, sanctioned boxing. Professional boxing bouts are fought for a purse that is divided between the boxers as determined by contract. Most professional fights are supervised by a regulatory auth ...

. He is a world champion in two weight classes, having held the IBF

featherweight Featherweight is a weight class in the combat sports of boxing, kickboxing, mixed martial arts, and Greco-Roman wrestling. Boxing Professional boxing History A featherweight boxer weighs in at a limit of . In the early days of the division, ...

title since August 2024, and the

WBO The World Boxing Organization (WBO) is an organization which sanctions professional boxing bouts. It is recognized by the International Boxing Hall of Fame (IBHOF) as one of the four major world championship groups, alongside the World Boxin ...

junior featherweight title from 2020 to 2021.

Professional career

Early career

Leo made his professional debut on November 17, 2012, scoring a four-round

majority decision A majority decision (MD) is a winning criterion in several full-contact combat sports, such as boxing, kickboxing, Muay Thai, mixed martial arts Mixed martial arts (MMA) is a full-contact fighting combat sport, sport based on strike (at ...

(MD) victory over Jesus Xavier Pacheco (Per Ardua) at the Crowne Plaza Hotel in

Albuquerque, New Mexico Albuquerque ( ; ), also known as ABQ, Burque, the Duke City, and in the past 'the Q', is the List of municipalities in New Mexico, most populous city in the U.S. state of New Mexico, and the county seat of Bernalillo County, New Mexico, Bernal ...

, with the two judges scoring the bout 40–36 and 39–37 in favour of Leo while the third scored it even at 38–38. After compiling a record of 18–0 (8 KOs) he faced Cesar Juarez for the vacant

- NABO junior featherweight title on December 28, 2019, at the

State Farm Arena State Farm Arena is a multi-purpose arena located in Atlanta, Georgia. The arena serves as the home venue for the Atlanta Hawks of the National Basketball Association (NBA). It also served as home to the Atlanta Thrashers of the National Hock ...

Atlanta, Georgia Atlanta ( ) is the List of capitals in the United States, capital and List of municipalities in Georgia (U.S. state), most populous city in the U.S. state of Georgia (U.S. state), Georgia. It is the county seat, seat of Fulton County, Georg ...

. Leo dropped his opponent to the canvas twice in round six before scoring a third knockdown in the eleventh. Juarez beat referee Jim Korb's count only for Korb to call off the contest in order to save Juarez from further punishment, awarding Leo the WBO regional title via eleventh-round

technical knockout A knockout (abbreviated to KO or K.O.) is a fight-ending, winning criterion in several full-contact combat sports, such as boxing, kickboxing, Muay Thai, mixed martial arts, karate, some forms of taekwondo and other sports involving striking, a ...

(TKO).

WBO junior featherweight champion

Leo vs. Williams

On July 9, 2020, it was revealed that the reigning WBO junior featherweight champion Emanuel Navarrete would vacate the title and move up to featherweight. The WBO accordingly ordered their #1 ranked junior featherweight contender Stephen Fulton to face the #2 ranked Leo for the vacant belt. The title bout was scheduled as the main event of an August 1 Showtime broadcast card, which took place at the

Mohegan Sun Arena The Mohegan Sun Arena is a 10,000 seat multi-purpose arena in the Uncasville, Connecticut, Uncasville area of Montville, Connecticut, Montville, Connecticut located inside the Mohegan Sun casino resort. The arena facility features of configurab ...

Montville, Connecticut Montville is a town in New London County, Connecticut, United States. The town is part of the Southeastern Connecticut Planning Region. The population was 18,387 at the 2020 census. The villages of Chesterfield, Mohegan, Oakdale, and Uncasvi ...

. Fulton withdrew from the bout on July 29, due to a positive

COVID-19 Coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) is a contagious disease caused by the coronavirus SARS-CoV-2. In January 2020, the disease spread worldwide, resulting in the COVID-19 pandemic. The symptoms of COVID‑19 can vary but often include fever ...

test, and was replaced by Tramaine Williams. Neither fighter was seen as the favorite to win, as most odds-makers either had both boxers at -120 pick'em odds, or had Williams as a slight -125 favorite. Leo won the fight by unanimous decision, with scores of 117–111, 118-110 and 118–110. Leo stated his desire to make his first title defense against Fulton, saying in his post-fight interview: "The fans want it, so why not bring it on?".

Leo vs. Fulton

Leo was booked to make his first WBO junior featherweight title defense against Stephen Fulton. The fight was scheduled as the main event of a January 23, 2021, card that took place at the Mohegan Sun Arena in Montville, Connecticut, and was broadcast by Showtime. The pair was originally scheduled to face each other for the vacant title on August 1, 2020, before Fulton withdrew due to

. Leo entered his first title defense as a +135 underdog, while Fulton was seen as a -160 favorite. Fulton won the fight by unanimous decision, with scores of 118–110, 119-111 and 119–111. Fulton landed 364 to Leo's 262 total punches, and outlanded Leo 320 to 238 in power punches.

Continued super bantamweight career

Leo faced the one-time WBC super bantamweight title challenger Aarón Alameda on June 19, 2021, on the undercard of the WBC middleweight title bout between reigning champion

Jermall Charlo Jermall Charlo (; born May 19, 1990) is an American professional boxer. He has held world championships in two weight classes, including the International Boxing Federation (IBF) light middleweight title from 2015 to 2017 and the World Boxing Co ...

and title challenger Juan Macias Montiel. He won the fight by majority decision. Two of the judges scored the fight 96-94 and 98-92 for Leo, while the third judge scored it as an even 95–95 draw.

IBF featherweight champion

Leo vs. Lopez

Leo is scheduled to challenge Luis Alberto Lopez for his IBF featherweight title at Tingley Coliseum in Albuquerque, New Mexico on August 10, 2024. Leo knockout out Lopez in the tenth round to win the title, becoming a two division champion in the process. At the time of stoppage two of the judges had Leo ahead on scorecards with 86–85, 86–85, while the third judge had Lopez ahead with 86–85.

Leo vs. Kameda

In January 5 it was reported that Leo was scheduled to make the first defense of his IBF featherweight title against Tomoki Kameda on March 29-30 in Aichi, Japan. On January 18th, it was reported that the fight will now be held in Osaka, Japan on May 24th. Leo won the fight by majority decision.

Professional boxing record

References

External links

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Angelo Leo - Profile, News Archive & Current Rankings
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Box.Live
, - , - {{DEFAULTSORT:Leo, Angelo 1994 births Living people American male boxers Boxers from Albuquerque, New Mexico World Boxing Organization champions International Boxing Federation champions World super-bantamweight boxing champions World featherweight boxing champions 21st-century American sportsmen