Yes, Albuquerque native Angelo Leo is still the International Boxing Federation featherweight champion. But Leo’s retention of the title came about on Friday, not Saturday, and in a most peculiar and unsatisfying way.

Challenger Ra’eese Aleem’s failure to make the 126-pound featherweight limit at Friday’s weigh-in has led to the cancellation of Leo’s Saturday IBF title defense in Atlanta.

Leo, who had the option of fighting Aleem with no title at stake, opted not to do so. As reported by boxingscene.com, Leo, having weighed in successfully at 125 pounds, is still entitled to his contracted pay, reported to be $147,000.

Aleem, who had called Saturday’s fight the greatest opportunity of his career, weighed in at 128.8 pounds. Two hours later, given a second chance, he still weighed 128 pounds. The fight was cancelled at that point.

An attempt by the Journal to reach Leo for comment was unsuccessful. But Albuquerque’s Luis Chavez, Leo’s longtime co-trainer, said by phone from Atlanta that the champion was “very upset. … We trained so hard for nothing.”

Leo, Chavez said, “Looked terrific (in training), and then this happened.”

Chavez said Leo had no wish to fight a non-title bout against an overweight opponent.

What’s next for Leo (26-1, 12 knockouts) is anyone’s guess. He last fought on May 24, 2025, when he successfully defended his title with a victory over Tomoki Kameda in Osaka, Japan. Leo had won the title via a victory by 10th-round knockout of then-champion Luis Alberto Lopez at Albuquerque’s Tingley Coliseum on Aug. 10, 2024.

Before the IBF ordered a mandatory title defense for Leo against Aleem, the organization’s No. 1 challenger, a group including Santa Fe promoter Pat Holmes and international promoter Sampson Lewkowicz had been working on a possible title defense for Leo in Albuquerque against South Africa’s Lerato Diamini.

Chavez said he’d been told a fight in Albuquerque is once again a possibility.

Could Leo-Aleem be rescheduled? Perhaps, but trust that Aleem would make weight given a second chance would be low at best. Missing weight for a world title fight by 2 pounds is viewed within the sport as close to unforgivable.

If the IBF were to remove Aleem as the mandatory challenger, elevate No. 2 challenger Omar Trinidad (20-0-2, 14 KOs) of Los Angeles and again order a mandatory defense, there’d be the obstacle of Trinidad’s scheduled June 28 fight against Jarwin Ancajas in Las Vegas, Nevada.

Could a title-unification fight be arranged for Leo against one the other three featherweight champions? That, as always when rival sanctioning bodies are involved, is complicated.

Bruce Carrington, who won the WBC featherweight title in January, already has a July 4 title defense scheduled against Rene Palacios.

Rafael Espinoza, the WBO champion, last fought in November. Brandon Figueroa, the WBA champion, upset then-champion Nick Ball in February. Neither Espinoza nor Figueroa has a fight scheduled.

NO TITLE SHOT FOR PEREZ: Aaron Perez, unbeaten Albuquerque flyweight Abraham Perez’s father, trainer and promoter, says his son had signed to challenge Anthony Olascagua for the Los Angeles boxer’s WBO 112-pound title — only to have Olascagua’s camp reject the fight.

“We signed the contract and made the deal,” Aaron Perez said. “However … we got a response from the promoter (All-Star Boxing) saying that Anthony’s team didn’t want the fight.

“Apparently Abraham was a little too dangerous for them.”

No title defense by Olascagua has been scheduled, as per boxrec.com.

Aaron Perez’s company, Legacy Promotions, has a card scheduled for July 31. Because of the offer to challenge Olascagua for a world title, Abraham was not placed on the July 31 card — headlined by Albuquerqueans Josh Torres and Cristian Cabral in separate fights.

Rather than rearrange the Legacy Card, Aaron Perez said he hoped to secure a fight for his son on another card in July.

Abraham Perez (14-0, 7 KOs) does not appear in the most recent WBO flyweight rankings (though that’s not always a barrier to getting a title shot). He’s ranked 12th by the IBF. He last fought on a Legacy Promotions card on April 4, defeating The Philippines’ Esneth Domingo (22-5, 14 KOs) by lopsided unanimous decision.