(Photo credit: Casino/Showtime) By Eric Thomas: Junior middleweight Alfred Angulo (20-2, 17 KO’s) will be fighting for the first time in a year this Saturday night against Raul Casarez (19-2, 9 KO’s) on Showtime at the Staples Center, in Los Angeles, California, USA.

Angulo, 30, hasn’t fought since last November in a disastrous 6th round TKO loss to a very limited James Kirkland. Angulo couldn’t handle Kirkland’s hand speed, which was odd given that Kirkland isn’t considered to be fast of hand. Angulo tried to knock him out in the 1st round and gassed out in a major way that you rarely see young fighters do.

Angulo gassed out and never got his second wind even five rounds later. Angulo showed in that fight that he has very serious stamina problems that are going to need to be addressed if he’s ever to do anything in the junior middleweight division other than be one of the many contenders.

Angulo spent 8 months in a holding cell at an immigration center this year in El Centro, California for an immigration issue. It’s unclear what happened with him having to stay so long but whatever the case he finally got out after using up a considerable amount of time.

This should be a fairly easy fight for Angulo this Saturday night against the 25-year-old Casarez because he’s the perfect opponent for Angulo in that he’s slow and stationary. He’s not the kind of guy that Angulo has had problems with in the past.

Besides his loss to Kirkland, Angulo also has a loss against Kermit Cintron in May of 2009. Angulo couldn’t handle the movement from Cintron and ended up getting out-boxed by him. Cintron essentially created the blueprint in how to beat Angulo by using movement and a stiff jab to defeat his slow pressure. Angulo hasn’t gotten any quicker since then and he’s going to have to learn how to cut off the ring a lot faster than he’s done in the past if he’s to do anything against the better fighters at 154.

One positive that Angulo has going for him now is that he’s being trained by Virgil Hunter in Oakland, California and that’s getting Angulo the opportunities to spar with Amir Khan, who moves really well and has fast hands. That can really help Angulo by getting him prepared to fight the faster guys in his weight class and deal with quick feet. It’s also likely that Angulo could end up sparring with WBA/WBC super middleweight champion Andre Ward in the future, as he’s also trained by Hunter.