Angelo Leo's next title defense takes shape

Angelo Leo has an opponent and a promoter for a second defense of the IBF featherweight title he won in his hometown of Albuquerque some 18 months ago.

As for a date and a site, not yet — but the outcome of a Tuesday purse bid appears to greatly reduce the possibility of Leo coming back to defend in Albuquerque. 

The IBF has confirmed that MP Boxing, a firm headed by boxing legend Manny Pacquiao, outbid Probox Promotions for rights to stage a title bout between Leo (26-1, 12 knockouts) and Ra’eese Aleem, the No. 1 challenger. 

MP Boxing is Aleem’s promoter, or is at least representing his interests regarding this title fight; Probox is Leo’s promoter. 

Santa Fe promoter Pat Holmes, who’d been involved in a project that would have brought Leo back to Albuquerque to defend his title against South Africa’s Lerato Diamini — short-circuited when the IBF ordered the mandatory defense against Aleem — said he didn’t believe MP’s winning the purse bid ruled out the possibility of Leo-Aleem being staged in Albuquerque. 

“I think Albuquerque still makes more sense than anywhere else (because of Leo’s drawing power here),” Holmes said. 

Still, neither Aleem nor MP Promotions has any history with Albuquerque. 

Aleem (23-1, 12 knockouts), who like Leo lives in Las Vegas, Nevada, is originally from Muskegon, Michigan. His last half-dozen bouts have taken place in Las Vegas (twice), Los Angeles, Norfolk, Virginia, Australia and Japan.

He’s fought twice at Mohegan Casino in Uncasville, Connecticut, on both of those occasions fighting on the undercard as Leo fought the main event. Between 2018-2020, he fought five times in Pennsylvania on cards promoted by Marshall Kauffman.

Aleem has not fought in his home state of Michigan since 2015, and it’s not clear whether he retains any drawing power there. 

MP Promotions had promoted exclusively in the Philippines, Pacquiao’s home, until staging a card at Pechanga Resort & Casino in Temecula, California on Nov. 9 of last year. MP has a card scheduled for Feb. 28 at Turning Stone Resort and Casino in Verona, New York on Feb.28 and is scheduled for a return to Pechanga on April 3. 

MP Promotions does not have a large stable of fighters — the list on its website does not include Aleem — and it’s unclear how a card with Leo-Aleem at the top would be populated. 

In Albuquerque, Holmes said, putting unbeaten local boxer Matt Griego-Ortega (15-0, 10 KOs) in a featured bout under the main event would be an asset to a Leo-Aleem promotion.

According to an email from the IBF to MP Promotions President Sean Gibbons, published online by freelance boxing writer Dan Rafael (formerly of USA Today and ESPN), MP’s winning bid was $227,100, far surpassing Probox’s bid of $167,000. 

It’s unusual in such cases, Rafael wrote on X, for the challenger’s promoter to outbid the champion’s promoter. 

Regardless, according to the IBF’s message to Gibbons, Leo, as the champion, would be entitled to 65 percent of the purse.

Holmes said he didn’t understand why Probox’s Garry Jonas didn’t submit a more competitive bid. Holmes was surprised as well that veteran promoter Sampson Lewkowicz, with whom Holmes has collaborated in the past, didn’t submit a bid. 

A successful bid from Lewkowicz, Holmes felt, might have cemented Leo-Aleem for Albuquerque. 

Top Rank, which promoted the Aug 10, 2024 Leo-Luis Alberto Lopez card at Tingley Coliseum and retains promotion options on Leo, also did not submit a bid.

Leo, 31, won the IBF featherweight (126-pound) title with a spectacular 10th-round knockout of then-champion Lopez. Leo traveled to Japan for his first defense, defeating Tomoki Kameda on May 24 in the latter’s hometown of Osaka.

Rick Wright writes about combat sports and the community for the Journal. He can be reached at rwright@abqjournal.com.