(February 1, 2023) – Former super bantamweight world champion Angelo Leo needed just three rounds to finish Mike Plania in WNF’s main-event this evening in Plant City, Florida. The pair collided at featherweight in a ten round bout.
The opening minute drew little action from the first round. Plania took the center of the ring with Leo moving around the perimeter. Leo’s jab started to open up as the halfway point passed, throwing a combination to the body shortly after. Plania landed a good left hand in the final minute. The pair traded relatively evenly just ahead of the bell.
Leo hit Plania with a hook to the body at the start of round two. He missed by a large distance with an overhand right seconds later but landed a right to the body on the follow up. Leo was fainting to give Plania food for thought, slowing the fight down at this early stage to his rhythm. Leo ducked a combination from Plania after a minute with little else to report until Leo landed good body shots with less than 30 seconds on the clock. He landed another sharp combination to the head to close the round.
Leo appeared to make a breakthrough at the end of the second round. He landed a rapid combination to Plania’s body to open round three. There was a lot of caution from both men as they both held a high guard. Leo worked the body again after a minute, Plania responded with an uppercut that caught the glove. Leo planted his feet to land a much more intensive right to the body halfway through the round, followed by a left to the body and another right to the head. Leo landed a neck-snapping counterjab to approach the final minute. Plania responded with a good uppercut.
Leo worked his way inside to land a short-sharp left right combination to the head. Leo went after Plania with a right to the body, a left-right combination to the body quickly followed, sending Plania to the canvas holding his stomach at 0:36. However, to the disbelief of commentary team Paulie Malignaggi and Chris Algieri, the referee ruled the shot too low.
With Plania pinned to the canvas, the referee eventually called the fight off to give Leo the knockout victory due to a legal body shot. The ProBox TV replay showed a perfectly legal shot from Leo.
Leo picks up a second straight knockout victory on WNF, his record improving to 23-1 (11 KOs). Plania’s record moves to 29-4 (16 KOs), picking up a second career knockout loss in Florida.
