angulo4534 By Jim Dower: Light middleweight contender Alfredo Angulo (16-1, 13 KO’s) easily defeated Gabriel Rosado (12-4, 7 KO’s) by a 2nd round knockout in a scheduled 10-round bout at the Buffalo Bill’s Star Arena, in Primm, Nevada. Angulo, ranked #5 in the World Boxing Council, #6 WBA, #8 WBO and #9 IBF, dropped Rosado, 23, three times in the 2nd round.

The bout was stopped by referee Russell Mora after Angulo trapped a hurt Rosado in the corner and hit him with a big right hand to the head followed by a left hook as Rosado was on his way down to the canvas.

Rosado was upset about the 1st knockout that occurred in the 2nd round, in which Rosado was nailed by a big right hand from Angulo immediately after coming out of a clinch. The punch, a right to the jaw, caught Rosado by surprise and knocked him down. Rosado didn’t see hurt by the shot, only surprised and upset about the punch. He tried protesting to referee Russell Mora about it but he wasn’t having any of it.

Angulo attacked Rosado as soon as the action resumed, backing him up to the ropes with jabs and left hands to the body. Once he had Rosado near the ropes, Angulo landed a chopping right hand that sent Rosado down for the second time in the round.

After the knockdown, Rosado attempted to clinch Angulo to try and buy some time. However, Angulo pounded Rosado with right hands while being held, causing Rosado let him go. Angulo then resumed pounding the now hurt Rosado with right hands to the head and body. Rosado then made the mistake of backing up to the ropes where Angulo finished him off with a huge right to the head that sent Rosado down. Angulo added a nice left hook just before Rosado hit the canvas.

In the 1st round, Rosado looked really good, nailing Angulo with straight right hands and short combinations. Rosado moved nicely and seemed to be using the same blue print that Kermit Cintron had used in his 12 round decision victory over Angulo in May. Rosado changed directions constantly in the round and had Angulo following him around but unable to land his own shots. Angulo was able to land some nice shots near the end of the round but Rosado countered him each time with nice right hands.

Unfortunately for Rosado, he forgot to protect himself when coming out of a clinch in the 2nd round and was nailed by Angulo. It didn’t matter that Rosado wasn’t really hurt. Angulo was smelling blood and going for the kill at this point. Rosado needed to use lateral movement instead of backing straight up, which made the job easier for Angulo.

It was a good performance for Angulo, because he looked much stronger than he did in his fight with Cintron in May. Angulo said that he had been filling ill before the fight suffering the effects of the flu. The way that Angulo looked against Rosado, I wouldn’t have given Cintron much of a chance even if he chose to move a lot. Angulo looked like couldn’t be stopped.

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In other action, undefeated super middleweight prospect Anthony Dirrell (18-0, 15 KO’s) dominated Mexican Alfredo Contreras (10-6-1, 4 KO’s), stopping him in the 7th round. Dirrell, 24, the younger brother of undefeated super middleweight contender Andre Dirrell, was simply too fast and much too talented for the slower, limited Contreras to deal with.

The fight was stopped in the 7th round by Contreras corner as he was taking big punishment from Dirrell in the round. Indeed, Dirrell was teeing off with left hooks and uppercuts at will at the time of the stoppage. It’s likely that Contreras would have stayed on his feet and lasted out the round, but he was taking some wicket shots that were whip lashing his head each time Dirrell would land a shot.

In round one through four, the southpaw Dirrell landed effectively with straight left hands to the head. He didn’t throw a lot of combinations because he seemed more focused on countering the shots that Contreras was trying to land. Contreras landed very punches in the first round, missing most as Dirrell would lean backwards or block the shots from him.

In the 2nd round, Contreras was able to land a couple of nice right hands late in the round as Dirrell began attacking him hard with big shots. Dirrell merely smiled and continued firing back with combinations. Dirrell didn’t look all that good in the 3rd because he wasn’t throwing enough punches. He easily won the round but he wasn’t doing enough to impress against a limited opponent.

In the 4th round, Dirrell began to get more comfortable, opening up with some combinations late in the round. This carried over into the 5th round as Dirrell stood toe to toe with Contreras, throwing huge shots that were catching Contreras cleanly and getting the crowd into the fight. Dirrell ended up throwing 91 punches in the round, landing 43 of them.

In rounds six and seven, Dirrell switched from southpaw to orthodox frequently, looking good while fighting in both stances. Contreras tried smothering Dirrell in the 7th, and landed several nice right hands, one of them a huge right while Dirrell was backed up into a corner. Dirrell then took his offense up a notch in response, attacking Contreras with hard combinations and following him around the ring while he battered him.

Referee Robert Byrd then warned Contreras, saying “You better show me something,” signaling to him that he was on the verge of stopping the fight unless Contreras fired back with some shots of his own. However, Dirrell kept pouring it on, nailing with hooks and uppercuts until Contreras’ corner threw in the towel. Referee Robert Byrd officially stopped the bout at 2:32 of the 7th round.

Dirrell looked good, but he needs to step it up against better opposition than this. Contreras wasn’t able to test him with anything. I think Dirrell is good enough already to beat most of the fighters in the super middleweight division, possibly even Carl Froch. However, Dirrell is going to have to show more movement like his brother because he can’t afford to be a stationary fighter once he starts fighting better opponents.

Like his brother, Dirrell showed blazing head and a nice punch variety. When Dirrell was letting his hands go, he looked sensational, almost as good as his older brother Andre. Unfortunately, Dirrell wasn’t always all that busy, tending to concentrate more on landing counter shots rather than creating his own opportunities against Contreras. Also, Dirrell wasn’t moving nearly as much as she should and was more stationary than his older brother.

Dirrell didn’t need to move much because of the limited opponent he had in front of him, but he’s going to need to once he starts facing better opposition in the future. He also didn’t his jab and that’s something he needs to change in the future.

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Unbeaten super featherweight prospect Archie Ray Marquez (6-0, 5 KO’s) had little problems beating Georgian Sergi Ganjelashvili (4-4-1) by a four round unanimous decision. The final judges’ scores were 40-36, 40-36 and 40-36. Marquez, 20, looked good landing nice body shots and hooks to the head.

Ganjelashvili, a sloppy fighter with an awkward style of fighting, tried to smother Marquez for most of the fight. It worked up to a point because Marquez wasn’t able to land as many shots as he wanted to because he was constantly having to deal with high punch output and awkward angles of Ganjelashvili.

The two fighters brawled much of the time in the first two rounds, blocking few punches. Marquez landed some nice right hands to the body in the 2nd round. However, Ganjelashvili had his moments as well, landing right hands to the head of the wide open Marquez. In the 3rd and 4th rounds, Marquez controlled the action with combinations to the body and uppercuts to the head.

Although Marquez got the win, he needs to work on his lack of power. He’s not particularly fast for a super featherweight, which is a problem in it’s self, but he can’t get by unless he develops more punching power.

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Undefeated heavyweight prospect Travis Kauffman (18-0, 15 KO’s) stopped a badly over matched William Shahan (8-2, 7 KO’s) in the 1st round. Shahan was knocked down by a big right hand from Kauffman and was absorbing punishment after the knockdown until his corner stepped in and stopped the bout at 1:20 of the 1st round. Kauffman is another fighter that needs to be facing better opposition. He’s built up a nice record but none of the wins are against quality fighters and he’s wasting his time against the C and D level opposition.