Albuquerque native Leo is fighting to stay in the title picture

Jun. 18—No athletic contest is truly a must-win situation. If Albuquerque native Angelo Leo should lose his boxing match against Mexico's Aaron Alameda on Saturday night in Houston, the sun will still rise over Beaumont and Baytown Sunday morning.

Nor would a loss represent sunset on Leo's career. At 27, he enters Saturday's bout with a 20-1 record (nine knockouts) and a world title already to his credit.

Even so ...

"Every fight is a must-win fight for me at this point," Leo said this week in a Zoom interview from his home in Las Vegas, Nevada. "This one is no different. It's go in there, do my job.

"The hard work was done in training camp, and I'm ready to go in there and get that 'W.' "

Clearly, the stakes — for both fighters — are high in this non-title 10-rounder.

On Jan. 23, Leo lost the WBO super bantamweight title he'd won the previous August, defeated via unanimous decision by Philadelphia's Stephen Fulton.

Alameda (25-1, 13 KOs), meanwhile, in September lost to Mexican countryman Luis Nery in his bid for the then-vacant WBC super bantam belt.

So, for either fighter to remain relevant as a title contender in the 122-pound weight class, victory on Saturday is paramount.

Toward that end, Leo said he's better prepared, physically and mentally, for this fight than he was for the Fulton fight five months ago.

Late last year, Leo was infected by COVID-19. He experienced only mild symptoms. Still, he believes training hard for the Fulton fight so soon after having the virus might have affected him in the later rounds.

"I felt it in the sixth, seventh round," he said. "I was pretty gassed."

Also, Leo said, he believes his mindset entering the Fulton fight proved costly.

"In the Fulton fight, everything was a little rushed," he said. "In the very first round, as you could see, we both were out swinging.

"Those are the main things, just being a little more patient, taking my time, studying the (opponent) a little bit more in the first rounds and then going in there and doing my job."

Alameda is a southpaw, a style that holds no mystery for Leo, a righty. Early in his tenure with Mayweather Promotions, he was fed a steady diet of left-handers. Tramaine Williams, whom Leo defeated for the WBO title in August, is a southpaw.

"I know how to do it," Leo said. "... Plus, I've been getting a lot of sparring, pure southpaw sparring. My whole training camp we've been sparring southpaws, so I'm ready for whatever he brings."

Alameda, Leo acknowledges, can bring it. He didn't get to be 25-1 for no reason.

"He likes to box and use his jab," Leo said. "He's not really a pressure fighter. ... But if he does (pressure), we're ready for that, too.

"He's a solid competitor, for sure. ... But I have a good résumé as well, so it's gonna be a great fight."

Saturday at Houston's Toyota Center, Leo will perform in front of a crowd for the first time in 18 months; the Williams and Fulton bouts were staged in a COVID "bubble" at the Mohegan Sun Arena in Uncasville, Connecticut.

Leo said he can't wait.

"A lot of people say that when COVID was going on and the fights were going on in the bubble, it was no different," he said. "But you can definitely feel it. You definitely feel the crowd and feed off their energy.

"It's just a different atmosphere. That's what boxing's all about."

UPDATE: Moriarty UFC welterweight Tim Means will not fight on Saturday — well, at least, not this one.

Means (31-12-1), originally matched against England's Danny Roberts on Saturday, instead will face Denmark's Nicholas Dalby (19-3-1) on June 26. Roberts withdrew for unspecified reasons.

Means-Dalby is on a card scheduled for UFC Apex in Las Vegas, Nevada, as was Means-Roberts.