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Ra’eese Aleem challenges Angelo Leo for the IBF featherweight title on Saturday in Atlanta. Aleem believes he has the emotional edge over the champion Leo.
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Saturday
Boxing: Angelo Leo vs. Ra’eese Aleem, several other bouts at Gateway Center Arena, College Park, Ga. Streaming: DAZN (subscription service), 6 p.m.
If Ra’eese Aleem sees Angelo Leo as the rich kid who lives at the top of the hill, relatively speaking, it’s understandable.
As Albuquerque’s Leo prepares to defend his International Boxing Federation featherweight (126-pound) title against Aleem Saturday in Atlanta, the challenger believes he has the emotional and motivational edge.
“I’ve always believed I was a top fighter in the sport, in the division, and I just never got the opportunity to showcase it,” Aleem (23-1, 12 knockouts) said during a recent interview with Brian Custer on the boxing site “The Last Stand.”
“… I finally, finally got my shot, my opportunity.”
Aleem, it’s true, has had the more arduous path to Saturday’s showdown: fights in 15 different states and two foreign countries on cards staged by at least 13 different promoters. For a short period of time, the Muskegon, Michigan native and former prep running back had no trainer.
It’s not as if Leo’s path to the title he holds has been strewn with rose petals.
Having come so far and overcome so much, he told Custer in an interview shared remotely with Aleem, he’s far from satisfied.
“Same goes for me,” he said. “I’m going in there and I’m gonna keep that belt. … I worked too hard to get here.”
Yes, the journey hasn’t been easy.
After struggling to advance his career in New Mexico, Leo (26-1, 12 KOs) and his father, Miguel, moved to Las Vegas, Nevada, circa 2016. For a period of time, they lived out of their car.
Things got better. Signed by Mayweather Promotions, Leo fought his way to the top of the super bantamweight division — defeating Tramaine Williams for the WBO 122-pound title in a deserted (thanks, COVID) Uncasville, Connecticut arena in August 2020.
But he lost to Stephen Fulton in his first defense and one fight later parted ways with Mayweather. Then came a 2-1/2 year ring hiatus during which he seriously considered leaving the sport for a career in real estate.
Good fortune, in the person of promoter Garry Jonas of ProBoxTV.com, stepped in — putting Leo, 31, on the path to the IBF title he won on a Top Rank, Inc., card at Albuquerque’s Tingley Coliseum on Aug. 10, 2024 — landing a crushing left hook to the head of Mexico’s Luis Alberto Lopez that separated the now-former champion from his senses in the 10th round.
This time, Leo would not lose that first defense. Citing the maturity he’d acquired since the loss to Fulton, he defeated Tomoki Kameda by majority decision in the challenger’s hometown of Osaka, Japan last May.
And if Aleem is motivated by disrespect — not from Leo; trash talk between the two has hovered near zero — Leo has been chafed by negative comparisons to his fellow featherweight champions: Rafael Espinoza (WBO), Brandon Figueroa (WBA) and Bruce Carrington (WBC).
The fight is scheduled for Saturday at 6 p.m. ET.
The match will take place at Gateway Center Arena in College Park, Georgia.
The fight will be streamed on DAZN, a subscription service.
Angelo Leo is the champion, while Ra’eese Aleem has a record of 23 wins and 1 loss, with 12 knockouts.
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Boxrec.com, in fact, ranks Leo as the No. 7 featherweight — two spots below Aleem.
Leo has bristled, in particular, at recent disrespect dished out by Carrington. But, should he defeat Aleem, he’d gladly take a fight against any of his fellow featherweight title holders.
“Being a champion isn’t the end-all, be-all,” he said during a Thursday news conference in Atlanta. I’m chasing (title) unification fights. I’m chasing greatness. I’m chasing big things.
“This is great and all that, but I want more.”
The Matchup
Contradicting boxrec, oddsmakers have made Leo a -270 betting favorite as of Thursday afternoon — meaning a $270 wager on Leo to win would produce a payoff of $100.
Aleem was +200, meaning a $100 bet on him to win would produce a payoff of $200.
An analysis on DAZN, the streaming service that will air Saturday’s fight, saw Leo having the edge in style, punching power and the mental game.
“Leo has the motivation and sweet science skills to produce a convincing victory and perhaps unify at 126 pounds,” the DAZN analysis concluded — then hedged — “… though Aleem’s agility and boxing skills of his own might have plenty to say about that.”
Both men live in Las Vegas and sparred each other before Leo’s super bantam weight title bout against Williams; Aleem fought on that card as well.
Though Leo has said he thought he got the better of the sparring session, he and Aleem both told Custer that a sparring session was an unreliable predictor of what might happen in a fight.
The Hair
Leo showed up in Atlanta with his hair dyed light blond in the style of Japanese star Naoya Inoue, widely considered pound-for-pound the world’s best boxer.
Leo, anticipating Inoue’s eventual move from 122 pounds to 126, said previously that facing the Japanese star is a fondly-held goal.