IBF featherweight world champion Angelo Leo will face No. 1-rated challenger Ra'eese Aleem next, rather than headline a Feb. 21 show in his Albuquerque hometown against Lerato Dlamini as first planned.

After a busy 2024 campaign that culminated in a surprise 10th-round knockout win over Luis Alberto Lopez, Leo (26-1, 12 KOs) has only boxed once this campaign as the 126-pound division has largely been stagnant among the elite.

As reported by BoxingScene on Saturday, plans for Leo-Dlamini are now on pause with the fight potentially being revisited later next year - assuming the 31-year-old is successful against a fellow Vegas resident with the wind in his sails.

Aleem (23-1, 12 KOs) lost his perfect record away from home with a 12-round split decision defeat by recent WBA world title challenger Sam Goodman on the Gold Coast in Broadbeach, Australia in June 2023 but has pitched a trio of points victories since.

The 35-year-old most recently outsmarted 14-0 local pro Mikito Nakano on the Takuma Inoue-Tenshin Nasukawa undercard in Tokyo, Japan last month.

That was made an IBF final eliminator for Leo's belt the month prior, with the timeline to complete a voluntary defence difficult before the sanctioning body would've summoned the champion into another mandatory. He's kept busy over the festive period posting training videos and working in Vegas, readying for a bigger and better year to come in 2026.