By Dan Ambrose: A fight between former WBC middleweight champion Julio Cesar Chavez Jr. (50-3-1, 32 KOs) and inactive journeyman Alfredo “Perro” Angulo (24-6, 20 KOs) is in the works for January 26 in California.
The Chavez Jr. vs. Angulo fight will be for 10 rounds. This is a fight that will take place at 168 pounds. It’s unknown whether Chavez Jr. will be given a few more allowable pounds to come over the 168-lb. limit if he can’t make the weight. At this point in his career, Chavez Jr. is more of a light heavyweight/cruiserweight in size than he is a super middleweight.
Just what Chavez Jr. hopes to prove by fighting the inactive Angulo is unknown. Angulo has fought most of his career at 154, and he’s not a true super middleweight. For Angulo to be now fighting in the 168-lb. division, it puts him at a disadvantage. Angulo has won 2 out of his last 3 fights at super middleweight in beating journeyman Hector Munoz and Delray Raines. Angulo lost to Freddy Hernandez.
Angulo gave up on the 154-lb. division following a 10th round knockout loss to Canelo Alvarez in March 2014. Angulo moved up to super middleweight in his next fight, and still wound up losing to James De La Rosa by a 10 round decision.
If Chavez Jr. wins the fight, there’s the possibility of him fighting for a world title against WBC super middleweight champion David Benavidez.
Both fighters are coming off embarrassing losses. Angulo, 35, was beaten by journeyman Freddy Hernandez by a one-sided 10 round unanimous decision more than a year ago on August 27, 2016. Angulo has been inactive ever since then, and you must wonder why. Has Angulo lost interest in boxing? Is he still training? The fact that Angulo hasn’t fought in over a year really helps Chavez Jr., because it means he’s guaranteed to get a rusty fighter, but he also might be getting a guy that is no longer interested in the sport like he was before.
For his part, Chavez Jr., 31, has been out of the ring since his one-sided 12 round unanimous decision loss to Saul Canelo Alvarez on May 6 in Las Vegas, Nevada. The fight was televised on HBO PPV, and it was a disappointment to the boxing fans that paid to see the fight. Canelo’s promoter at Golden Boy Promotions had built up the Canelo-Chavez Jr. fight to be a war between two Mexican fighters.
It turned out to be a boring fight with Canelo beating up on a fighter that was unwilling to fight back. Chavez Jr. looked weight drained from having had to melt down to 164.5 lbs. for the catch-weight. But with the way Chavez Jr. looked, he likely would have been still weigh drained even if the fight were at 175. Chavez Jr. is said to have started training camp at 235 pounds. Draining down to 164 was just too much of a weight loss for him to be effective inside the ring on that night.
Chavez Jr. might have the same weight problems for the Angulo fight than he did for the Canelo fight. 168 is not that far from 164, when you’re as big as Chavez Jr. It’s probably not going to help Chavez Jr. if he’s coming down from over 200 lbs. once again to make weight. That’s still a ton of weight for Chavez Jr. to have to lose to make weight.
At this point in Chavez Jr’s career, he should probably be fighting at 175 or at cruiserweight, because 168 is too light for him. When a fighter has been heavy for a long time, it becomes nearly impossible for them to return to their previous weight class. Chavez Jr. was never making 168 consistently ever since he moved up to the division in 2013. Chavez Jr. was coming over the 168-lb. limit in weighing in the 170s, and he was still looking terribly emaciated. Chavez Jr. probably should have moved up to 175 in 2013 or cruiserweight.
Chavez Jr. might get past Angulo on January 26, but he’s going to have difficulties trying to beat WBC champion David Benavidez in 2018. If Chavez Jr. is looking as weight drained for the fight with Benavidez as he was for the Canelo fight, then he’s going to take a bad beating and wind up getting stopped. Benavidez is a super middleweight with light heavyweight power.
There would be a lot of boxing fans that would have a problem with Chavez Jr. fighting for a world title off a win over the journeyman Angulo. After all, Angulo isn’t a top contender at 168. He’s an inactive journeyman. For Chavez Jr. to be given a world title shot, he should at least be able to show that he can beat a top contender.
Angulo’s best wins of his career have come against these fighters:
• Richardo Cortes
• Andrey Turkan
• Cosme Rivera
• Gabriel Rosado
• Joel Julio
• Joachim Alcine
Angulo’s notable losses were to these fighters:
• Canelo Alvarez
• Erislandy Lara
• James Kirkland
• Kermit Cintron
It’s unclear whether there will be a weight penalty involved in the fight for either fight if they come in over the weigh-in limit. Chavez Jr. has a hard time making weight for the 168-lb. division.