Angelo Leo scored a vicious one punch knockout of Luis Alberto Lopez in Round 10 to pull off an upset and win the IBF featherweight title Saturday in Albuquerque, New Mexico.
LOOK AT THIS BRUTAL KO BY ANGELO LEO ONE MORE TIME ???? pic.twitter.com/aPy9PW697g
— Top Rank Boxing (@trboxing) August 11, 2024
Leo won the title in dramatic fashion in front of his hometown crowd, gave them a performance that they could be proud of. Lopez entered his fourth title defense riding a 13-fight winning streak. The 30-year-old was coming off an eighth-round TKO win over Reiya Abe in March. But Leo was not going to be denied and became legendary in his hometown.
“Fighting back in my hometown, I always yearned for this moment,” said Leo, 30. “What better way to do it than with a world title shot and a knockout. That left hook we’ve been practicing all camp.”
Leo was ahead on two of the judge’s scorecards, 86-85, while one judge had Lopez ahead, 86-85, at the time of the stoppage. He becomes a two division champion with the victory.
uncorked a left hook that dropped Lopez flat on his back for the count of 10 at 1:16 of the round to become a two-division champion. The clean left hand sent Lopez crashing to the mat as the back of his head bounced off the canvas in a knockout of the year contender. Lopez (30-3, 17 KOs) was transported to UNM Hospital following the KO loss for observation. Lopez was the top dog at featherweight and was riding a 13 fight winning streak coming into the fight.
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Robert LaMar is a writer for Dice City Sports. You can follow him on X via @RobertLaMar26
