Angelo Leo has a new fight date but the same opponent and destination.
The Ring has confirmed that Leo’s IBF featherweight title defense against mandatory challenger Tomoki Kameda will now take place on May 24 at Yamato Arena in Osaka, Japan. The fight was previously targeted for late March as part of Kameda Promotions’ ‘Lush BOMU Vol. 4’ event, but has now moved to the later date.
Kameda Promotions is headed by Koki Kameda, a former three-division titlist and Tomoki’s older brother.
Leo (25-1, 12 KOs) is The Ring’s No. 1 featherweight and will travel to his challenger’s home base. Osaka’s Kameda (42-4, 23 KOs) is just outside The Ring’s top ten but earned the fight after an Aug. 24 points win over Lerato Dlamini (20-3, 11 KOs) at Yamato Arena.
The win saw Kameda avenge an upset loss to the visiting South African the prior October, and become the IBF mandatory challenger in the process.
Leo will now enter as the visiting titlist after he received a home game for his title winning effort.
The fighting pride of Albuquerque, New Mexico emerged as a contender for 2024 Comeback and Knockout of the Year after he dethroned Luis Alberto Lopez (30-3, 17 KOs) on Aug. 10. A left hook by Leo put Lopez flat on his back to produce the dramatic ending as the title changed hands.
It was Leo's first home fight since 2015, but he will now travel abroad for his first title defense.
His clash versus Kameda was ordered by the IBF last fall. A purse bid was thwarted late in the negotiation process when Leo agreed to the road trip for his first title defense.
Kameda will aim to become a two-division titlist on his second try. He previously held the WBO bantamweight belt, in a Guinness Book of World Records-honored moment that saw Koki, Tomoki and middle brother Daiki become the first trio of brothers to both separately win and simultaneously hold major titles.
Three successful defenses followed before the youngest Kameda was stripped for entering a secondary WBA title fight. It was double the damage, as he suffered back-to-back defeats.
Kameda won five in a row before he came up short in a July 2019 bid versus then-unbeaten WBC 122-pound titlist Rey Vargas (36-1-1, 22 KOs; The Ring No. 4 featherweight).
Leo previously held the WBO 122-pound title. His reign ended after just five months when he suffered his lone career defeat to Stephen Fulton in their Jan. 2021 battle of unbeaten junior featherweights. He has since won five in a row, though the period includes a two-and-a-half-year ring absence before he returned in Nov. 2023.
Jake Donovan is part of the U.S. team for The Ring. Follow Jake on X and Instagram.