photo credit: David Algranati/The Fight Photos
The 118-pound division is wide open. With Naoya Inoue having moved up to 122 and vacating all the belts, there is no longer a dominant force in the division. That was until now 27-year-old Spring, Texas Bantamweight Michael Angeletti, 9-0 (7), has settled in at 118 and has put the entire division on notice with his performance Saturday night at the MGM National Harbor in Oxon Hill, Maryland. In a battle of unbeaten up-and-comers. The Texan absolutely took apart and punished Jonathan Lopez to move his record to 9-0 (7),
After a somewhat quiet and tit-for-tat first round. Angeletti got cooking in the second and never slowed down. Angeletti found the range in the second and scored with laser-like right hands that did not miss. Keeping the fight at his preferred range, the Texan started letting his hands go and landing consistently. Lopez was hurt for the first time in the fourth round via a left hook and again in the sixth with a pair of right hands that had Lopez wobbled. The Texans scored with a ferocious uppercut in the seventh, and with just over 30 seconds left, he rocked Lopez with yet another left uppercut. Angeletti, having scored an 8th-round KO in his last outing, went for it again. He nailed Lopez with a right hand to the body that forced him backward with just over a minute remaining in the fight but the determined Lopez held up and ran out the clock. The decision was clear as Angeletti rolled to the lopsided UD by a score of 80-72, 79-73 X2.
Angeletti closed out 2022 with a win over the unbeaten Jeremy Adorno, at the Barclays Center in Brooklyn and then picked up an impressive win over Michell Banquez on the undercard of Rolly Romero-Ismael Barroso. The win on Saturday night showcased the complete skill set plus the power of Angeletti, and a high-level ring IQ. The win established the Spring, Texas, resident as a legitimate world title challenger and should put him in a position where he can be fighting for a world title in the wide-open division in the next 12 months.