Boom! Angelo Leo's left hook turns close fight into a world title

Aug. 11—Luis Alberto Lopez had just thrown a lazy left jab, with his right hand held low.

Angelo Leo did what he's been training to do since he was in grade school, launching a left hook that, really, was more precise than powerful. Speed is power, they say in boxing.

Lopez never saw it coming.

As the now former IBF world featherweight champion lay on the canvas, separated from his faculties for more than the necessary 10 seconds, Leo, an Albuquerque native, celebrated his second world title.

Leo's upset victory, on a nationally televised Top Rank, Inc. card at Tingley Coliseum on Saturday, came in his first appearance in a New Mexico boxing ring since 2015 and in his first as a main-event fighter in his home state.

He's now 25-1 with 12 knockouts. Lopez is 30-3 with 17 KOs.

Leo said he'd seen during his month-long fight camp that Lopez, a powerful puncher, had defensive shortcomings. Lopez himself, while radiating confidence during the week, had admitted defense wasn't his strong suit.

"We knew his defense wasn't the greatest," Leo said. "We just felt it was a matter of time until we'd catch him."

The left hook, in particular, was something Leo believed he could land against Lopez.

"I practiced that shot in camp, day in and day out," he said. "Not just in the gym, but in my room. I was practicing that left hook, and it paid off tonight."

It was anybody's fight entering the 10th; Leo led 86-85 on two cards; Lopez led by the same score on the third.

The first minute of the 10th had been relatively uneventful until Leo saw his opportunity and seized it.

He's a world champion again, after having defeated Tramaine Williams by unanimous decision for the WBO super bantamweight title in June 2021 in Uncasville, Connecticut with no spectators in the stands because of COVID restrictions.

Saturday, a loud hometown crowd — attendance figures were unavailable — cheered him on to world title No. 2.

"This was my gift to (the fans)," he said. "This was a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity, and (the knockout victory) was a once-in-a-lifetime moment. So I'm just taking it all in."

Twice in a lifetime? Or more?

In signing him for Saturday's fight, Top Rank also secured options on future Leo fights. Given the affinity for Albuquerque shared by Top Rank chairman Bob Arum and vice president Bruce Trampler, there's a high likelihood Leo will be back.

During a Thursday news conference, a confident Lopez talked of his desire to unify the world featherweight belt then shared by Lopez, WBC champion Rey Vargas and WBO champion Rafael Espinoza.

It there's any unifying to be done, Leo is more than willing. He said Lopez's talk of unification, and of his hopes to end Saturday's fight with an early stoppage, had gotten his attention.

"I knew he was overlooking me," Leo said. "It gave me a little motivation, got me a little angry."

That anger exploded on Lopez's chin during the 10th round on Saturday night.

Leo's knockout blow was a close cousin to the left hook landed by another New Mexico fighter, Brian Mendoza, in his seventh-round KO of then-unbeaten Sebastian Fundora in April 2023.

Mendoza, like Leo, lives and trains in Las Vegas. But Leo had spent most of the previous month leading up to Saturday in Santa Fe, training at more than 7,000 feet above sea level.

Lopez had done no high-altitude training, believing his work ethic and his mental strength would be sufficient to retain the title he'd won in December 2022 and had successfully defended three times.

Lopez didn't visibly tire during Saturday's bout, but Leo said he could feel a change as the fight wore on.

"My conditioning was top tier," Leo said. "I felt him slowing down, especially with my body shots."

It was a shot to the head, though, that made Leo once again a world champion.

In a co-main event between unbeaten Mexican junior welterweights, it was Lindolfo Delgado who remained that way.

In defeating countryman Bryan Flores by split decision, Delgado (21-0, 15 KOs) earned the WBO Latino 140-pound title.

After 10 hard-to-score rounds, one judge scored the bout 116-112 for Delgado, another 116-112 for Flores. The tiebreaker was a 115-113 scorecard that favored Delgado.

The Journal scored the fight 114-114, a draw.

Flores (26-1-1, 15 KOs) was fighting uphill after suffering a third-round knockdown — he was hit on the back of his head and was not hurt.

The hill got steeper when he was assessed — surprisingly — a one-point penalty in the seventh round for low blows.

The knockdown resulted in a 10-8 round in Delgado's favor on all three official scorecards. The penalty had the same effect on two of the three cards.