Angelo Leo Eager To Meet Naoya Inoue After Capturing Featherweight Crown

Recently crowned featherweight champion Angelo Leo targets a future bout with Naoya Inoue

Angelo Leo celebrating his IBF featherweight victory over Luis Alberto Lopez in Albuquerque, New Mexico /

By Mohamed Bahaa

Fresh off his triumph to become a two-division world champion, Angelo Leo has said he wants to challenge Naoya Inoue at featherweight. Defeating Luis Alberto Lopez with a 10th-round stoppage on August 10 at Tingley Coliseum in his hometown, the 30-year-old fighter won the IBF featherweight title.

Leo, with a 25-1 record including 12 knockouts, is excited to challenge Inoue, recognized as one of the best pound-for- pound fighters worldwide. “Yes, of course. I think Naoya in a way is one of the best fighters in the world right now and I would love to take a crack at him,” Leo said, “I think he's fighting at 122 pounds right now and I heard a lot of rumors that he is planning to move up to 126 in the future.”

Following his loss of the WBO junior featherweight title to Stephen Fulton three years ago, Leo's career has witnessed a rebirth after rising to 126 pounds. The move paid off when he fired a forceful left hook to knock out Lopez, exciting the hometown fans in Albuquerque, where Leo hadn't fought in nine years.

When Leo thought back on the fight, he realized he had not expected such a quick ending. “Honestly, we weren't really looking for the knockout,” he remarked. “The strategy was just to go in there and to outwork them, out-point them, and if the knockout came, then it came. But for the most part, we're looking for a decision just to go in there and win.”

Leo also said that his attempts to reach the 122-pound limit drove him to move to featherweight. “I moved up because 122 was just too difficult to make,” Leo said. “I felt like I was outgrowing 122 pounds and my body was asking for me to go up in weight, so that's why we decided to go 126, and I feel a lot better there now.”

Looking ahead, Leo is aiming for possible unification bouts with featherweight division champion Rey Vargas or Rafael Espinoza. But the possibility of fighting Inoue is obviously at the forefront of his mind, particularly if the Japanese "Monster" rises to 126 following his forthcoming championship defense against TJ Doheny on September 3.

Leo is also thinking about his long-term career in the sport; he wants to eventually weigh 130 pounds. “I plan on staying here for a few more fights, possibly a few more years, and then moving up to 130 pounds,” he said.

Leo is currently more focused on confirming his position as a top contender at featherweight than in adding more belts to his collection.