Leo means Lion in Spanish. And Tramaine Williams was mauled.
Angelo Leo turned Williams’ stomach into his personal heavy bag, essentially winning a wide unanimous decision with a relentless body attack to capture the vacant WBO 122-pound title Saturday behind closed doors at the Mohegan Sun in Uncasville, Conn.
And he did it even though Williams was a last-minute replacement for his original opponent, Stephen Fulton, who tested positive for COVID-19.
One big difference between Fulton and Williams: The former fights from an orthodox stance, the latter is left-handed. Some wondered whether it would be difficult for Leo to adjust. Well, the body is the same regardless of the opponent’s dominant hand.
“The key fact in the fight was the body work and the pressure, definitely,” Leo said afterward.
Leo (20-0, 9 KOs) seemed to have some difficulty in the first few rounds, as the quick, capable Williams (19-1, 6 KOs) was able to land jabs and stinging left hands fairly consistently from a relatively safe distance.
However, by the fourth round, Leo became comfortable, worked his way inside and began pounding Williams’ body in earnest.
“The first few rounds I was feeling him out,” Leo said, “getting [my] timing, getting a feel for him. I felt him kind of loosening up, kind of breaking down. That’s when I started putting the pressure on him a little more.”
Williams had success off and on in the fight when he fought from the outside but he couldn’t keep the lion off of him. The shorter man actually landed some decent shots inside but, as his trainer told him repeatedly, Leo fared much better in close quarters.
Leo maintained the pressure the entire fight. By the late rounds, he was landing vicious shots to both the body and head and Williams, evidently weakened by the punishment and unable to adjust, offered little in return.
Thus, when the scores were announced, no one was surprised: 117-111, 118-110 and 118-110, all for Leo, who won his first major title 26.
Leo, promoted by Floyd Mayweather, lives and trains in Las Vegas but grew up and began his boxing career in Albuquerque. He joins such fighters as Bob Foster, Johnny Tapia, Danny Romero and Holy Holm as a world champion from that town.
“Oh man, it feels good,” Leo said. “It still hasn’t sunken in yet. It feels surreal.”
Next up for Leo will be Fulton, as the WBO has ordered fight between the Leo-Williams winner and Fulton within 180 days, which should give Fulton plenty of time to recover and get back to training.
Leo was asked whether he has a message for his next opponent.
“Just be ready,” he said. “Just be ready. We’re going to make it a war. He says he’s going to bring it, I’m going to bring it. Why not bring it on?
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