Angelo Leo
Saturday night with a UFC event without star power on ESPN+ and Vergil Ortiz Jr. who won the interim WBC super welterweight title in a slugfest on DAZN, a scintillating 10th-round KO of Angelo Leo stole the show in combat sports this weekend on ESPN network television.
Leo knocked out Luis Alberto Lopez with a perfectly executed and devastating left hook to capture the IBF featherweight title in his hometown of Albuquerque, New Mexico.
I featured Mikey Williams in the image, but I have to give special recognition to arguably the best fight photographer in the world, and we see another example of his work in the image that he captured perfectly with Leo’s decisive left hook.
In case you missed it, Top Rank Boxingthe organizer of the event, posted it with the caption, “Note it down. KO of the year.”
Top Rank also posted this look at KO from multiple angles.
The term KO of the year is thrown around a lot. I referred to Lucas Bahdi’s KO of Ashton “H20” Sylve as the knockout of the year last month.
Bahdi’s KO came on the undercard of Jake Paul vs. Mike Perry in a fight against an up-and-coming but largely unproven fighter in a fight with almost no stakes.
Leo KO was different.
Beyond the wild nature of the KO, there was a legitimate world title on the line. Leo was in his hometown and the fight was very close. How close? All three judges for the fight had scored it within one point. Esther Lopez and Fernando Villarreal had Leo a point, while Zachary Young had a Lopez.
For Leo to pull off such a clutch win with such a high level of determination might give him the nod for KO of the year. Counter punching was the path to victory for Leo even before the KO. After the match, Leo talks about the importance of winning.
“This means the world to me, fighting back in my hometown,” Leo said. “I have longed for this moment. Like I said, what better way to do it than with a world title shot and a knockout. Not in the gym, but in my room in front of the mirror. I just kept throwing that left hook. And it paid off in the 10th round.”
Leo will have options as a legitimate world champion, and one of them could be a rematch with Lopez, at least at some point.
“I want to fight all the champions, whether it’s Rafael Espinosa for a unification fight,” Leo said. “Naoya Inoue, whoever she is.”
Before the fight, Lopez seemed to have a possible matchup with Inoue on his mind, but after losing his belt so brutally, that opportunity is no longer on the table for him. It will be interesting to see if Leo decides to challenge Inoue next.
The Japanese superstar will defend his undisputed junior featherweight titles against TJ Doheny on September 3 in Tokyo.
Leo and others will be watching this match closely.
Ortiz defeated Serhii Bohachuk in what some described as the Fight of the Night. Ortiz claimed the interim WBC super welterweight title. You can read about it and see highlights here.
UFC Vegas 95 was pretty smooth. There were 10 fights and seven ended in decision. All three stoppage wins came by submission. This includes Serghei Spivac submitting Marci Tybura via armbar in the main event.
The recap of the event is here.
UFC 305 in Perth, Australia takes center stage next weekend.
