Las Vegan Angelo Leo seeks to bounce back from 1st loss

When Angelo Leo lost to Stephen Fulton on Jan. 23, he really lost twice — both the world title he’d won in his last fight and his undefeated record were suddenly gone.

So as Leo (20-1, 9 KOs) prepares to return to the ring on Saturday night against Aaron Alameda (25-1, 13 KOs), he’s focused on getting back what he lost. The junior featherweight fight will open a Showtime Championship Boxing tripleheader from Houston, topped by a WBC middleweight world title fight between Jermall Charlo and Juan Macias Montiel.

“It’s a tough pill to swallow for sure,” Leo said. “Taking that loss, my first loss, it was tough. … I know it crossed my mind a lot, but you gotta keep looking forward to the future, and that’s becoming a world champion once again.”

Leo, who lives and trains in Las Vegas, was supposed to fight Fulton in August 2020, but Fulton had to pull out just days before the fight when he tested positive for COVID-19.

Leo instead took on Tramaine Williams and neutralized the New Haven, Connecticut, native’s movement with a strong inside fighting game that ended with his hand raised and a world title belt around his waist.

His first title defense was the rescheduled date with Fulton (19-0, 8 KOs), a slick boxer from Philadelphia. Fulton was the better man that night, outboxing Leo en route to a unanimous decision win.

Now Leo will seek to rebound against Alameda, who is also coming off his first career loss. Alameda, of Mexico, dropped a unanimous decision to former bantamweight titlist Luis Nery in his last fight.

Leo, who hopes to fight in a title eliminator after the Alameda fight, is planning to showcase a whole new version of himself on Saturday night.

“I want to show people different looks,” he said. “We fought Tramaine and Fulton that way for their styles. Aaron Alameda is a whole different fighter, whole different style. So I might have to tweak some stuff.”

Contact Jonah Dylan at jdylan@reviewjournal.com. Follow @TheJonahDylan on Twitter.