Angelo Leo won the vacant WBO Super Bantamweight title with a 12-round unanimous decision over Tramaine Williams at the Mohegan Sun in Uncasville, Connecticut.
Williams got off to a good start as he was crisp with his counter left hook. He controlled the action for the first three rounds. Leo started to come forward in the middle rounds as he effectively worked the body.
That tactic slowed down the quick Williams as Leo continued to work on the inside and pound away at the body of Williams with left hooks. Leo occasionally came upstairs, but by the championship rounds, Williams output had slowed to pedestrian status.
Leo outlanded Williams 248-196 including 102 to seven to the body.
Leo of Albuquerque, NM won by scores of 118-110 and 117-111 twice and is now 20-0. Williams of New Haven, Connecticut is 19-1.
Angelo Leo
“It feels good. It still hasn’t sunk in yet, it just feels surreal. The first few rounds I was just feeling him out, getting his timing, getting the feel of him. I felt him kind of loosening up and breaking down, and that’s when I started putting the pressure on him a little more.
“That was the key factor in this fight, the body work and the pressure. I’m pretty sure Albuquerque is celebrating tonight. I think they have four world champions, because you can’t exclude Holly Holm. You have Johnny [Tapia], Danny [Romero], Holly and now me. There’s four champions in that city and I think I’ve made history there.
“At first, the first couple hours after the opponent change I was a little disappointed. But then I was like, ‘Hey this is what I came here to do.’ I came here to win a world title and that’s exactly what I did. When I set my mind to it, I do it.”
Raeese Aleem stopped Marcus Bates in round 10 of their scheduled 12-round super bantamweight rematch.
Aleem dominated the fight as he punished Bates to the body and began working his way upstairs. In round 10, Bates was complaining of an injured right hand. Later in the round, Aleem landed two crushing lefts as Bates turned away and referee Gary Rosato stopped the bout at 2:18.
Aleem, 121 1/4 lbs of Las Vegas is 17-0 with 11 knockouts. Bates, 121 1/4 lbs of Washington, DC is 11-2-1.
“It did help me facing Bates again only because I knew some of his tendencies, but that was still a while ago. He’s a top fighter so he could have come at me a number of different ways. I was just prepared.
“I didn’t know his hand was hurt. I thought he was juts shaking it just to try to get me to look at it and distract me. I didn’t worry about it.
“I would love to fight either the winner of the main event or any current world champion – Akhmadaliev has two of the belts. Brandon Figueroa, Rey Vargas, or the winner of this one. It doesn’t really matter who but I want the strap.”
Joe George scored a vicious 9th round stoppage over Marcos Escudero in a scheduled 10-round light heavyweight bout.
Escudero seemed to be winning the fight as he was out throwing and out-landing George, much like their first fight that took place in November.
In the final seconds of round nine, George landed a vicious uppercut that sent Escudero crashing to the canvas, and the fight was stopped at 3:00.
George, 174 1/4 lbs of Houston is now 11-0 with seven knockouts. Escudero, 173 1/2 lbs of West Palm Beach, FL is 10-2.
Joe George
“I was setting him up with the jab to the body, I had him leaning over a little. I was shooting the right uppercut, some landed and some didn’t. I wanted him to get comfortable and relaxed, and that’s exactly what he did. He was relaxed and I slipped over and just shot it. He gave it to me and I had to take it. It put him down.
“The result is self-explanatory. I don’t have to say nothing. I’m willing to fight whoever next. One fight at a time and I’ll be prepared for whatever’s on the way.”
