By Dan Ambrose: #7 WBA Alfredo Angulo (22-3, 18 KO’s) says he’s been sparring daily with Amir Khan to get himself prepared for the former WBA/WBC 154 lb champion Saul “Canelo” Alvarez (42-1-1, 30 KO’s) on March 8th at the MGM Grand, Las Vegas, Nevada, USA.
This could be a positive, but also a sign that maybe there’s a lack of good sparring partners in his trainer Virgil Hunter’s gym in Oakland, in Northern California. Ideally, you’d like to see Angulo in with guys that are scaling in the 170s lbs like the red-haired, flat-footed Canelo likely will be when he steps inside the ring with Angulo next month. Having the long-armed, rail-thin Khan as Angulo’s sparring partner might not help him much when he gets in the ring against a short tank like Canelo.
Angulo will be helped by training with Khan’s hand speed, but the power and the weight division between him and Canelo will be a shocker for Angulo when he gets in the ring on March 8th and finds that he’s in there with a light heavyweight in Canelo. There won’t be a rehydration limit for this fight, so Canelo will be as heavy as he wants.
“Most of my sparring has been with Amir Khan,” Angulo said to RingTV. “I believe that the velocity that Amir fights with is really helping me out with my reflexes through this camp. I don’t believe that Canelo can be faster than Amir…I’m prepared to face him if he wants to go toe-to-toe and I’m prepared if he wants to run.”
There’s no question that Khan is faster than Canelo. Khan also works a lot harder than Canelo does, and he doesn’t turn red-faced and need to retreat to the ropes after 3 rounds to catch his breath the way that Canelo does. But with that being said, Khan is a fighter that doesn’t even weigh 150, so if Angulo gets too used to nailing a speedy fighter like him with his wiry frame, he’ll be kind of in for a shocker when he’s getting hit by a guy over 20+ pounds heavier than that on March 8th against Canelo.
Angulo will need to walk Canelo down and try to get to him while he’s resting on the ropes like he usually does when he gets tired. If Angulo can nail Canelo while he’s trying to showoff with his head movement, he could score a surprise stoppage.
Khan isn’t getting much help from this sparring either, because he’s got the fight with Floyd Mayweather Jr. on May 3rd, and the slow as molasses Angulo will be no help all in getting him ready to face Mayweather. But with Khan it’s less important, because he’s going to get dominated by Mayweather no matter who they have in training camp sparring with him. The best thing that Khan could be doing in training camp is working on his footwork by having him run around the ring for 12 rounds with his hands held as high as possible to protect his chin. Khan can’t afford to mix it up with Mayweather, because he’ll get timed and knocked out.
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