By David Lahr: Light middleweight Alfredo Angulo (15-0, 12 KOs) opened some eyes on Saturday night in the process of taking out veteran Cosme Rivera in the 5th at the BankAtlantic Center, in Sunrise, Florida. Angulo showed crushing power in hurting Rivera on a number of occasions in rounds three and five, eventually battering him until the fight was stopped in the 5th. The referee Telis Assimenios waited way too long before stepping in and stopping the fight, letting poor Rivera get hit with far too many shots if you ask me.
He had no chance in the fight and was taking a pounding from the 3rd round on. It’s a credit to Rivera for stepping up and taking the fight, because he was giving up size in moving up from welterweight to take the fight. He also took the fight on four days notice. Angulo may have done his job in defeating Rivera, but he didn’t look all that impressive to me.
Yeah, he took Rivera out alright, but Angulo looked awfully slow, throwing punches as if he had too much slow twitch fiber in his upper body. Who knows? Maybe Angulo’s lack of hand speed might not matter, because after all, the light middleweight division is dirt poor, filled with a lot of crappy fighters. But still, you got to be faster than what he looked to be to beat the better fighters in the division, don’t you?
Let’s say that Angulo keeps winning and meets up with James Kirkland, the number #2 ranked WBA light heavyweight contender. What do you think would happen? My guess is that Kirkland would have far too much speed and power for Angulo to handle and we would likely see Angulo hurt and then taken out in a blaze of punches.
Already, Angulo was hurt in his fight with Colombian Richard Gutierrez in May 2008, getting staggered by a right hand. If it wasn’t for Gutierrez’s desperation in looking too quickly for a knockout, and getting tagged by a big right hand from Angulo and then promptly taken out, there would have been a good chance that Angulo would have been stopped back then.
By far, Gutierrez has been the toughest opponent that Angulo has faced as of yet, and it was alarming to see Angulo take so many power shots in the fight and almost get knocked out. Surviving the round and getting the knockout took a lot of sting almost getting knocked out by him.
However, you can’t erase the face that Angulo looks ill equipped to take on the better fighters in the light middleweight division like Kirkland or Sergeii Dzinziruk. You might as well count those two fights as losses on Angulo’s record, because when that day comes that he fights them, I’m telling you, Angulo will lose and lose badly. You can add Sergio Martinez to the list of fighters who will defeat him and make him look bad.
Comments are closed.