BY Ian S Palmer
Undefeated Angelo Leo of Albuquerque, New Mexico is putting his WBO Super Bantamweight Title on the line for the first time this Saturday, Jan. 23rd when he meets unbeaten Stephen Fulton of Philadelphia, Pennsylvania in Uncasville, Connecticut. The 12-round bout can be seen live in America on Showtime while fans in Canada can catch the action on TSN 2. Leo last fought in August when he won the vacant title by beating Tramaine Williams by a wide unanimous decision. Fulton hasn’t seen action since last January when he beat Arnold Khegai by 12-round unanimous decision.
Leo, who is associated with Floyd Mayweather and fights out of Las Vegas, is a 26-year-old who climbs into the ring with a perfect mark of 20-0 with 9 Ko’s. He’s not a big hitter but still has a respectable knockout percentage of 45 per cent but has gone the distance in five of his last six outings. He made his pro debut in 2012 after a decent amateur career and has boxed 111 rounds since. He stands 5-feet-6-inches tall and has a 69-inch reach.
Leo has been brought along relatively slowly with just two of his first 10 opponents having winning records. Since then, he’s beaten the likes of Basilio Nieves, Jonathan Aguilar, Glenn Poras, Erik Ruiz and Mark John Yap. He also stopped Cesar Juarez in the 11th round in December, 2019 to capture the vacant WBO NABO Super Bantamweight Crown.
As for Fulton, he’s also 26 years of age and has fought 107 rounds since turning pro in 2014. He enters the bout with a perfect mark of 18-0 with 8 Ko’s. Like Angelo, he’s not known as a power puncher and owns a current knockout ratio of 44.4 per cent with three stoppages in his last six fights. Fulton is slightly taller as he’s just over 5-feet-6-inches and also has a slight 1.5-inch edge in reach.
One of Fulton’s first seven opponents had winning marks and since then he’s managed to defeat boxers such as Joshua Greer Jr, Luis Rosario. Adam Lopez, Jesus Ahumada and German Meraz. He won the IBO World Super Bantamweight Title in May, 2019 with a wide 12-round unanimous decision over Paulus Ambunda. Fulton’s amateur record was a reported 75-15 and he also boxed in the World Series of boxing.
Prediction…
This fight was supposed to take place in the summer but was pushed back when Fulton contracted Covid-19 and that’s when Leo beat Tramaine Williams for the vacant belt. Leo and Fulton are both good prospects who are similar in age, size, power and their records. The odds are it will go the distance with Fulton taking a narrow decision in a hard-fought battle as he possesses slightly better skills.
