Leo relying on tips from Mayweather in junior featherweight defense vs. Fulton

Title bout tops Showtime's Saturday night tripleheader

As Angelo Leo heads into his first junior featherweight world title defense he is thankful to an all-time great fighter who helped put him the position he is in – Floyd Mayweather, the retired five-division world champion, whose Mayweather Promotions represents Leo.

“Training at (Mayweather Boxing Club in Las Vegas) has really helped me just for the fact that you get so many different fighters coming in from all over the world, and you see so many different styles and different looks,” Leo said. “So it’s great for me. It really pushes me. It's a great experience for any fighter to train there.

“The one thing Floyd told me is that he was going to make me a champion in two years. He kept his word, 2½ years or less I became a world champion. He wasn't as present for this camp, but at my last camp he deeply impacted me with tips on how to approach the fight with (Stephen) Fulton and his style. Tips that carried over into this camp.”

Indeed, Leo will defend his 122-pound belt against Fulton in the main event of the first “Showtime Championship Boxing” card of 2021 on Saturday night (Showtime, 9 ET) at the Mohegan Sun Arena in Uncasville, Connecticut.

Mayweather gave Leo tips on how to approach Fulton in his previous training camp because they were supposed to fight Aug. 1 in a Showtime main event. But when Fulton, who was already on site in Connecticut, tested positive for Covid-19 he was unable to fight. Leo instead faced standby replacement Tramaine Williams and won a dominating unanimous decision to claim the vacant WBO title. Fulton was promised the first title shot once he returned to good health.

Now, Leo (20-0, 9 KOs), 26, an Albuquerque, New Mexico, native fighting out of Las Vegas, is poised to give Fulton (18-0, 8 KOs), 26, of Philadelphia, his opportunity and he certainly figures to Leo a much tougher fight than Williams.

“Fulton’s a good fighter. He’s got his style down pat,” Leo said. “He likes to use his jab and control the distance. You can’t take anything away from him. He was out for a year, so I'm taking advantage of that. My advantages are my pressure, my work rate and my boxing IQ. I think a lot of people underestimate that about me.”

Fulton was not as complimentary about Leo’s game.

“I don’t think much of Angelo Leo,” Fulton said. “I wasn’t impressed with his last fight. Just pressure. That’s about the only thing he brings. There are things he’s probably never seen before. I come with angles and my ability to punch off angles. 

“I would like to get past this and unify. Fights like against Leo and (WBC titlist Luis) Nery are easy fights for me. Their styles and my styles are tailor-made for each other. What they both do fits my style perfectly.”

While Leo and Fulton don’t agree on how their fight will go they both take great pride in representing the boxing tradition of their hometowns.

“It means a lot to be the first champion from Albuquerque since Johnny Tapia,” Leo said of the late Hall of Famer, who won world titles in three divisions. “I looked up to Tapia and (former junior bantamweight titlist) Danny Romero, so to be the next is an honor. Albuquerque is a fight town, but it's not the biggest city so there's a lot of unseen talent there.”

Fulton has the same feeling about Philadelphia, which has such a rich history in boxing.

“Some of the fighters I like are Bernard Hopkins, (Joe) Frazier, and Meldrick Taylor,” he said of a trio of Philly greats. “They mean a lot to me, and to the sport of boxing and the history of Philadelphia. I watched the guys who were leading and now I’m leading. It’s just a big accomplishment to say you’re trying to lead the new era for your city.”

Showtime weigh-in

Leo weighed in at 121.5 pounds and Fulton was on the division limit of 122 at Friday’s weigh-in.

Ra’eese Aleem (17-0, 11 KOs), 30, of Las Vegas, was 121.5 and Victor Pasillas (16-0, 9 KOs), 28, of Redwood City, California, was 122 for their vacant interim junior featherweight title bout that will serve as the co-feature.

However, there was a change to the opening bout. While interim lightweight titlist Rolando Romero (12-0, 10 KOs), 25, of Las Vegas, was 134.25 pounds, challenger Justin Pauldo (14-1, 7 KOs), 26, of Orlando, Florida, was 138.5 pounds, well over the 135-pound division limit. He tried to lose some weight but was eventually removed from the card upon doctor’s orders and was replaced by Philadelphia’s Avery Sparrow (10-2, 3 KOs), 27, who was on site on standby in case there was an issue with the bout. Sparrow weighed 136 pounds for what is now a 12-round as a nontitle bout.

McCaskill-Braekhus II on Chocolatito-Estrada II card

The rematch between undisputed women’s welterweight world champion Jessica McCaskill and former champion Cecilia Braekhus was added Friday as the co-feature to Matchroom Boxing’s card on March 13 (DAZN) that is headlined by the much-anticipated rematch between Roman “Chocolatito” Gonzalez and Juan Francisco Estrada, who will meet to unify junior bantamweight world titles.

Matchroom also announced that the card will take place at the American Airlines Center in Dallas, where a limited number of spectators will be permitted.

McCaskill (9-2, 3 KOs), 36, of Chicago, was a unified junior welterweight titlist when she moved up in weight and won a disputed majority decision over Braekhus on Aug. 15 in Tulsa, Oklahoma.

“I interrupted her career in the first fight,” McCaskill said. “I will end her career in the rematch."

Braekhus (36-1, 9 KOs), 39, of Norway, was attempting to make her 26th consecutive title defense and break the record she shares with heavyweight legend Joe Louis for the most title defenses in a row, male or female.

“I’m very focused on regaining all of my belts,” Braekhus said. “It will be a very special night in Dallas.”

Another world title bout was also added to the card: new Matchroom Boxing signing Hiroto Kyoguchi defending his junior flyweight title against Axel Vega.

Kyoguchi (14-0 9 KOs), 27, of Japan, who is managed by Canelo Alvarez trainer/manager Eddy Reynoso, will make his third defense and will be fighting outside of Asia for the first time. Vega (14-3-1, 8 KOs), 20, has won his only bout since losing a seventh-round technical decision challenging Wilfredo Mendez for a strawweight title in 2019.

Sor Rungvisai back in action on DAZN

Former two-time junior bantamweight titlist Srisaket Sor Rungvisai (49-5-1, 42 KOs), 34, a southpaw from Thailand, will face countryman Kwanthai Sithmorseng (50-7-1, 27 KOs), 38, who briefly held a strawweight world title in 2010, on March 12 (DAZN, 9:30 p.m. ET) at Workpoint Studio in Bang Phun, Thailand (where it will be March 13).

Sor Rungvisai will risk his position as the mandatory challenger to fight the winner of the unification fight between Gonzalez and Estrada. Sor Rungvisai stepped aside to allow them to unify.

“I cannot wait to fight against the winner of Chocolatito and Estrada later this year to show the world that I am the top fighter (at junior bantamweight),” said Sor Rungvisai, who is already 2-0 against Gonzalez and 1-1 against Estrada. “I will show the world in this fight against Kwanthai Sithmorseng that I am more than ready to face either Chocolatito or Estrada for the third time. I know that Kwanthai is very experienced. He is a former world champion and also the current Thailand (junior bantamweight) champion. He cannot be taken lightly, but I will be impressive and I will win by KO.”  

Sithmorseng knows the fight is a huge opportunity for him.

“Srisaket Sor Rungvisai is the best fighter in Thailand, and he has done a great job for putting Thailand on the global boxing map by knocking out the legendary Roman Gonzalez,” he said. “I have much respect for him, and I also realize that this is such a great opportunity for me to be back at the world stage. This can be a life changing opportunity for me. If I beat Rungvisai in this fight I can get a chance to fight against the top guys in the division in world title fights. I will do whatever it takes to make that happen.”

Quick hits

Former lightweight titlist Robert Easter Jr. (22-1-1, 14 KOs) and Ryan Martin (24-1, 14 KOs) will meet Feb. 20 in a junior welterweight bout on a Showtime tripleheader at the Mohegan Sun Arena in Uncasville, Connecticut, according to sources, although I am told the bout is not yet signed. Martin has won two low-level bouts since getting stopped in the seventh round by Josh Taylor in November 2018 in the World Boxing Super Series and then getting suspended for testing positive for two banned substances in a post-fight drug test. Former four-division titlist Adrien Broner, Easter’s good friend, headlines the card against an opponent to be named in a junior welterweight fight and a heavyweight fight between former title challengers Otto Wallin and Dominic Breazeale is also on the show.

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MTK Global announced Friday that is has signed heavyweight Martin Bakole (16-1, 12 KOs), 27, who is from Congo but based in Scotland, to an advisory deal. “The big fights at heavyweight are what I want, and I am certain that MTK Global will be able to secure them for me,” Bakole said. It’s not done yet but a source with knowledge of the negotiations has told me that Bakole and Filip Hrgovic (12-0, 10 KOs), 28, of Croatia, are close to finalizing a deal to fight in April.

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Former strawweight titleholders Jose Argumedo (23-4-1, 14 KOs), 32, of Mexico, and Byron Rojas (27-4-3, 11 KOs), 30, of Nicaragua, have been ordered by the WBA to fight for the vacant secondary title. They have until Feb. 19 to make a deal or a purse bid will be called. If the fight goes to a purse bid the winning bid will be split 50-50.

Show and tell

Friday was the 48th anniversary of George Foreman knocking out fellow all-time great Joe Frazier in the second round of a devastating performance (“Down goes Frazier!!”) to win the heavyweight title in Kingston, Jamaica. Here is a gorgeous and extremely scarce site program in my collection.

More show and tell

Friday was also the 33rd anniversary of a prime Mike Tyson retaining the heavyweight title with a one-sided fourth-round knockout of aging former champ Larry Holmes. Here is the very colorful and rare cardboard site poster from that event in my collection.

Leo-Fulton photo: Amanda Westcott/Showtime