Angelo Leo (right) goes down to Luis Alberto Lopez in their August 10th IBF featherweight title fight. Leo landed a one-punch, tenth-round victory to take down Ring's No. 1-rated featherweight. Photo credit: Mikey Williams, Top Rank
Angelo Leo was sure of two things going into his fight with Luis 'Venado' Lopez:
Fighting in front of a home crowd would mean everything to him and that he is the best featherweight in the world.
“(My) mind is like that [always] to go in there and win,” Leo told The Ring ahead of Saturday's fight. “There is more motivation than before. The intensity of the training is higher than ever so we make sure that no stone is left unturned here. We are here to get the win.”
Leo made believers out of any doubters on Saturday night, scoring a 10-fight knockout win over Lopez in the 10th round in his hometown of Albuquerque, New Mexico. Leo (25-1, 12 knockouts) won the IBF featherweight world title.
A counter left hook to the head dropped Lopez (30-3, 17 KOs) from Mexicali, Mexico without a count. Entering the 10th round, Leo was up 86-85 on the two judges' scorecards. Lopez went up 86-85 in the third.
“I am now the best at featherweight,” emphasized Leo, who is the No. 10 ranked star in The Ring. At his peak, Lopez was rated No. 1 at featherweight.
In his last fight on April 10, Leo defeated former featherweight champion Eduardo Baez by unanimous decision. On January 31, Leo knocked out former junior featherweight champion Mike Plania in the third round.
Because of the level of opposition and what was at stake, Leo's motivation and hunger for the Lopez fight was at an all-time high.
“We see 'Venado' and he's not in a good mood,” Leo commented. “He's doing a lot of off-the-books things that the trainers teach and all that. But it's working for him and he's running away. But then again, he's never fought a fight like me. (Someone) with a style like me. He's lost something on the record. so that will tell you that his style is not flawed.”
The 29-year-old Leo had not fought in his hometown of Albuquerque since defeating rider Stephon McIntyre in August 2015. The fight took place at the Civic Center in Albuquerque.
Leo was thankful not only for the opportunity to fight again in his hometown, but to do so with family, friends, and fans of his profession who were there.
“It means the world because that's where I grew up,” said Leo, who started playing as a top player in November 2012. “That's where I grew up. I have all my fans, all my family and friends there, most of them. It is a blessing to fight in my hometown in front of people who supported me all these years when I was playing boxing. It's just a return to my hometown because it's been a while since I fought here.
“I last fought in Albuquerque in 2015. It's a nice little gift for them to have in front of them not only a fight, but a world title in front of them. I am very happy about that. I am so blessed to have given them that show. And for them to be seen and supported.”
After moving on from his contract with Mayweather Promotions, Leo landed a deal with ProBox TV. He made his debut on that field last November 1, when he stopped goalkeeper Nicolas Polanco.
A four-fight winning streak preceded Leo's title challenge against Lopez. His lone loss came to Stephen Fulton in a Jan. 2021 undefeated junior featherweight that ended his WBO 122-pound title.
Compared to his state of mind, Leo is in a better place and wiser in recent years. He believes that learning from his mistakes has put him in a better position to take advantage of the opportunity to win a world title.
“A lot of that had to do with maturity,” said Leo, the proud father of a two-year-old son. “My experience in boxing. My experience in life. All of that was flawed. I started to realize what I needed to work on in my training and in my style. I improved through all that, I improved my punching ability.
“Yes, I gained weight to 126 (kilograms). I got more zip in my punches now, than in 122. I feel much better at 126. I feel very sharp. I hired a strength and conditioning coach. Our training sessions are more intense than back then. Everything is very intense so we are ready to go.”
Francisco A. Salazar has written for The Ring since October 2013 and has handled boxing in Southern California and internationally since 2000. Francisco also covers boxing for the Ventura County (California) Star newspaper. They can be reached at [email protected]
!function(f,b,e,v,n,t,s)
{if(f.fbq)return;n=f.fbq=function(){n.callMethod?
n.callMethod.apply(n,arguments):n.queue.push(arguments)};
if(!f._fbq)f._fbq=n;n.push=n;n.loaded=!0;n.version=’2.0′;
n.queue=[];t=b.createElement(e);t.async=!0;
t.src=v;s=b.getElementsByTagName(e)[0];
s.parentNode.insertBefore(t,s)}(window,document,’script’,
‘
fbq(‘init’, ‘161022561146884’);
fbq(‘track’, ‘PageView’);
(function(d, s, id) {
var js, fjs = d.getElementsByTagName(s)[0];
if (d.getElementById(id)) return;
js = d.createElement(s); js.id = id;
js.src = “//connect.facebook.net/en_US/sdk.js#xfbml=1&version=v2.10&appId=128026463954740”;
fjs.parentNode.insertBefore(js, fjs);
}(document, ‘script’, ‘facebook-jssdk’));
Source link
