Battling past various obstacles thrown in their path, a dynamic and resilient duo of father and son earn the attention of Team Mayweather. Angelo “El Chinito” Leo is an up and coming prospect hailing from Albuquerque, New Mexico.
His story begins at a young age, where his father, Miguel Leo, searched high and low for activities to get his son involved in.
Where soccer and other martial arts seemed fun, none seemed to grab the heart of young Angelo. It wasn’t until his father began coming home with boxing magazines that Leo finally found something that sparked his interest.
Leo would cycle through old issues of his father’s magazines and see pictures of heralded champions like Sugar Ray Leonard, Roberto Duran, Oscar De La Hoya and Floyd Mayweather Jr.
“I remember I was about eight years old when I started to really get into boxing,” said Leo. “I remember the magazines and then my father would let me watch old fights with him and soon after I was fighting in my first amateur fight.”
The road to Mayweather Promotions was all but easy for the father and son duo. Despite winning various Silver and Golden Glove tournaments as an amateur, when it was time to turn pro, not too many opportunities presented themselves.
Instead, father Miguel acted as both trainer, manager and essentially promoter to his son.
“It was tough at the beginning man,” said Leo. “There weren’t many places to grow in boxing in New Mexico and we tried a bit in California, but my dad was always the one trying to get me fights. Sometimes we had to dish out money to even get on a card. I wasn’t even getting paid a lot of the times.”
The Leo’s had a plan in mind and they knew where they wanted to eventually end up, and that was in Las Vegas.
“I remember going to the Mayweather Boxing Club and getting in some sparring and thankfully it caught the eye of some of the Mayweather staff,” said Leo. “From then on, word got to Floyd and he came and watched me spar and liked what he saw.”
Leo recalls approaching Mayweather with aspirations of fighting on one of his cards, to which Mayweather simply replied, “I got you.” All the hard work had finally paid off for the 23-year-old and his dream would finally come to fruition when Mayweather Promotions drew up contracts to officially sign him.
“Words can’t describe what I felt. So many doors closed on us and here comes Floyd opening the door for me. It’s truly a blessing,” said Leo.
Now, with a record of 11 wins and no losses, Leo continues to strive for greatness and proudly represents the Mayweather team. Leo is coming off four-straight KO wins and will be looking to add his fifth this Saturday night at Sam’s Town Hotel & Gambling Hall in Las Vegas on a card headlined by Sharif Bogere.
Header photo by Chris Farina/Mayweather Promotions
