Angelo Leo vs Eduardo Baez Preview April 10th 2024
There’s a good 10-round featherweight fight on tap this Wednesday, April 10th as former WBO Super Bantamweight Champion Angelo Leo of Albuquerque, New Mexico takes on Eduardo Baez of Mexico. The contest takes place in Plant City, Florida and can be seen live on ProBox TV and on You Tube. In addition, fans in Canada can catch it on Sportsnet World. Leo last saw action in January when he stopped Mike Plania in the third round for the WBA Continental North America Featherweight Belt. Baez halted Genaro Velarde Rodriguez in the fifth round in his last outing in December.
Leo vs Baez Betting Odds
Here are the betting odds from online sportsbook BetOnline.ag (full review here).
- Eduardo Baez +450
- Angelo Leo -700
My Pick
Leo, who fights out of Las Vegas, is a 29-year-old who climbs into the ring with an impressive mark of 23-1 with 11 Ko’s. He’s not a big hitter but still has a respectable knockout percentage of 47.8 per cent and has stopped his last two opponents but has gone the distance in seven of his last 10 contests. He made his pro debut in 2012 after a pretty good amateur career and has boxed 145 rounds since. As a youngster he fought in several national Golden Gloves tournaments. Leo stands 5-feet-6-inches tall and has a 69-inch reach.
Leo started his pro career rather slowly with just two of his first 10 opponents having winning records. Since then, he’s beaten the likes of Plania, Nicolas Polanco, Basilio Nieves, Jonathan Aguilar, Glenn Poras, Erik Ruiz and Mark John Yap. He also stopped Cesar Juarez in the 11thround in December, 2019 to capture the vacant WBO NABO Super Bantamweight Crown. Leo was then matched with Tramaine Williams for the vacant WBO Super Bantamweight Title and took it by a unanimous decision.
Leo was supposed to have met Stephen Fulton for the vacant belt after Emanuel Navarette vacated it and moved up in weight to featherweight. However Fulton had to pull out of the August, 2020 fight due to a positive Covid 19 test and was replaced by Williams. Leo then met Fulton in his first defence in January, 2021 and dropped a wide unanimous decision. He’s fought three times since then with a 10-round majority decision over Aaron Alameda, his ninth-round stoppage of Polanco and the first-round stoppage of Plania. His fight against Polanco last November was his first in two-and-a-half years and this will now be his third bout in the past five months.
As for Baez, he’s a 28-year-old who fights out of Calexico, California. He climbs through the ropes with a mark of 23-5-2 with 9 Ko’s and has boxed 188 rounds since making his pro debut in 2013. He’s 5-feet-9-inches tall with a 70-inch reach which gives him a three-inch height advantage over Leo along with a two-inch edge in reach. Since turning pro he’s won the vacant Mexican Super Bantamweight Title in 2019.
His first loss came to Mauricio Lara via a six-round unanimous decision in 2017 and he dropped a a 10-round majority decision to Ra’eese Aleem in November, 2021 for the vacant WBO NABO Super Bantamweight Belt. He then lost three fights in a row as he was stopped in the sixth round by Emanuel Navarrete in August, 2022 in a shot at the WBO Featherweight Crown. Baez dropped a 10-round split decision to Arnold Khegai in his next outing four months later and lost a 10-round unanimous nod to Jonathan Lopez four months after that.
Since then he’s won two straight fights by knockout. Baez’s two draws came against Mario Rivera over six rounds in 2016 and Alfredo Vargas over 10 rounds in 2018. Baez lacks power just 39 per cent of his wins have come by stoppage. He’ll be stepping up in class this weekend as most of his bouts have been against journeymen opponents other than Aleem and Navarette and he lost both of those.
Prediction…
Leo can’t afford to take Baez too lightly as he does have pretty good skills even though he lacks power. Leo is known for his volume punching though and combined with a solid chin, I’m expecting him to outwork Baez or stop him late in an entertaining battle.
Leo has better skills and a solid chin.
Play: Leo -700 @ BetOnline.ag
Check out my recent boxing betting picks to see my current form.
Angelo Leo betting • Eduardo Baez betting