Ra’eese Aleem misses weight, DAZN main event with Angelo Leo is off

Ra’eese Aleem failed to make weight Friday for his IBF featherweight title shot at belt holder Angelo Leo, scrapping the DAZN fight and leaving Aleem co-promoters MP Promotions and Salita Promotions on the hook to pay Leo his entire $147,000 purse, BoxingScene has learned.

The IBF’s mandatory challenger, Aleem, 23-1 (12 KOs), came in heavy over the featherweight limit of 126lbs by weighing 128.8lbs earlier Friday. The Georgia commission allows one hour to attempt to shed the difference, but Aleem could only get to 128lbs in Atlanta.

Georgia rules stipulate Leo, by making weight, is entitled to his full purse money even as the DAZN main event is scrapped.

“It’s unfortunate,” Leo promoter and BoxingScene owner Garry Jonas said Friday. “We didn’t wish that on Ra’eese Aleem. He lost the opportunity to fight for the title on the scale and, unfortunately, it’s not in Angelo Leo’s best interest to fight him.

“We look forward to Angelo Leo being back on a Top Rank card in the near future.”

New Mexico’s Leo, 26-1 (12 KOs), was due to fight Aleem only because of the mandatory duty. The bout went to purse bid and the winning offer by Manny Pacquiao’s MP Promotions made for a financially disfavorable purse for the titlist.

“I’m speechless. I’m sick for Angelo Leo, DAZN and my co-promoter, Dmitriy Salita,” Aleem advisor and MP Promotions executive Sean Gibbons said. “Aleem went to many places in the world to fight and never had a weight problem before today.”

Salita told BoxingScene on Friday afternoon he’s attempting to preserve the remaining fights on the card, and even said he would hope Leo would keep the fight since there would be no risk of losing the belt.

Jonas said he wasn’t interested in that.

With Top Rank’s new streaming deal with DAZN taking effect this month, Leo is in prime position either to land a tune-up bout (because he hasn’t defended his belt since May 2025) or perhaps get a unification bout against one of Top Rank’s two featherweight belt holders: WBO titlist Rafael Espinoza or new WBC titleholder Bruce “ShuShu” Carrington.

Lance Pugmire is BoxingScene’s senior U.S. writer and an assistant producer for ProBox TV. Pugmire has covered boxing since the early 2000s, first at the Los Angeles Times and then at The Athletic and USA Today. He won the Boxing Writers’ Association of America’s Nat Fleischer Award in 2022 for career excellence.