Photo by Gabe Rivas / Round By Round Boxing
Former WBC and WBA Junior Middleweight champion Saul “Canelo” Alvarez makes his return against heavy-handed brawler Alfredo “Perro” Angulo on March 8, 2014, live from the MGM Grand in Las Vegas, Nevada. The pay-per-view event will be presented by Golden Boy Promotions and Showtime Sports.
The fight will be Alvarez’s first after losing to Floyd Mayweather in their September 14 showdown last year. Although losing to the universally-recognized pound-for-pound king, Alvarez will seek to quickly remove the taste of defeat from his mouth and make his case for another run at a Junior Middleweight title.
Angulo is also coming off a defeat against a slick and elusive boxer. Last year, he was stopped by Erislandy Lara in the tenth round of an exciting bout in which Angulo managed to knock Lara down twice—the only time Lara has seen the canvas in his career.
The bout is being billed as “Toe-To-Toe,” and not without reason. Angulo’s relentless pressure is likely to make for an exciting clash against Alvarez’s quick counter punching and powerful combinations.
Will Alvarez find the redemption he seeks in one of the most dangerous fights of his career? Or will Angulo upset Alvarez’s plans to regain his status as the 154-pound king?
Scroll through as we take an in-depth look at Canelo Alvarez‘s highly-anticipated March showdown against Alfredo Angulo.
Fight Info
Main Event: Alfredo Angulo vs. Saul Alvarez; 12 rounds in a non-title Junior Middleweight fight.
Where: MGM Grand
When: March 8, 2014
TV: Showtime pay-per-view
The Fighters
Photo By Esther Lin/Showtime
| Saul Alvarez | Alfredo Angulo | |
| Record | 42-1-1, 30 KOs | 22-3, 18 KOs |
| Age | 23 | 31 |
| Height | 5’9” | 5’9½” |
| Reach | 70½” | 69” |
| Weight | 154 | 154 |
| Stance | Orthodox | Orthodox |
| Hometown | Tlajomulco de Zúñiga, Jalisco, Mexico | Mexicali, Baja California, Mexico |
| Rounds Boxed | 289 | 109 |
Boxing Ability
Saul Alvarez:
As Alvarez has expressed in past interviews, Mexico does not have an amateur boxing program as well-funded and polished as other countries. Nevertheless, with over forty fights at the age of twenty-three, Alvarez got a similar opportunity to develop his skills as a young professional.
In Mexico, fifteen is the age where young fighters can begin their career and begin practicing for future success. Alvarez debuted in October of 2005 and, over the years, developed his skills on the job–learning to counter-punch, lead with the jab, and work the body in many professional bouts.
The benefit of this experience is that Alvarez learned early that fighting as a professional is much different than fighting as an amateur. One must be aware of the smaller gloves, different judging system, and the longer duration of the bouts. Indeed, this is one reason why Alvarez has been so successful–his professional style of coming forward, working the body, and throwing combinations has been worked on for some time.
Also, Alvarez learns from his mistakes. His first fight in the United States, when he faced Jose Miguel Cotto, had him nearly getting knocked out in the very first round after taking a hard left hook to the chin. Alvarez’s clearly learned from this fight, and his right hand has been glued to his chin ever since that fight.
Alfredo Angulo: Alfredo Angulo also debuted in 2005, although at the much older age of 22. Angulo managed to go all the way to the 2004 Olympics, losing to Andy Lee in the very first stage.
Despite his amateur background, it can be argued that Angulo went to the Olympics because of his hard work ethic, his natural strength, and his amazing chin. With that said, it may be clear why he lacks technique in many areas. After winning so many fights via brute strength and an iron chin, Angulo has not needed to improve his technique. He is awkward, has very little head movement, and his punches come from very crazy angles.
Angulo is a hardworker and is one of the toughest fighters out there. Despite not being a pure boxer, he is one hell of a fighter.
Advantage:
Although he did not have an extensive amateur career, Alvarez has proved that he is a very skilled boxer. In his fight with Trout, a man with considerable amateur experience, Alvarez was able to slip and block punches with ease–often with a smile on his face. Many have criticized his lack of footwork, but Alvarez does know how to utilize the ring when necessary, his first feel-out round with Mosley being a perfect example of how he can use the ring when he needs to.
I give Alvarez the advantage based on his speed, head movement, and technique. If he engages in a war with Angulo, however, he might find some trouble.
Power
Saul Alvarez: Saul Alvarez made a young a career of knocking people out in the Welterweight division. However, he has not been successful in his attempts to knockout legitimate Junior Middleweights. Although he has many knockouts in that division, they were mostly against former Welterweights such as Josesito Lopez and Kermit Cintron.
Alfredo Angulo: Alfredo Angulo has knockout power in the Junior Middleweight division. In his fight with James Kirkland, he proved why backing up Angulo too quickly and carelessly is a bad idea: Kirkland was dropped by Angulo in the very first round. Although he would lose the fight, Angulo proved that he can seriously hurt anyone who makes the slightest mistake.
His fight with Lara is another example. Lara was boxing well, using his movement to stifle Angulo’s offense. However, as soon as he made the slightest mistake–dropping his hands on the way out of an exchange–Angulo capitalized and put Lara on the canvas.
Advantage: Angulo’s considerably stronger than Alvarez and has proved it in the ring. If Alvarez makes the slightest mistake early in the fight–something as simple as dropping his right hand when he throws the left hook–he might be dropped. If a former Lightweight in Jose Miguel Cotto can hurt Alvarez, Angulo might have the power to knock him down.
Defense
Photo by Al Bello/Getty Images
Saul Alvarez: Alvarez does a great job of always having one hand placed tightly by his chin. When he throws his jab and left hook, Alvarez makes sure his right hand his placed by his chin–perhaps, as I mentioned earlier, a response to almost being knocked out in his fight with Cotto.
Furthermore, Alvarez has shown many ways of defending against punches. In his fight with Mosley, he used a high guard from which he threw powerful combinations. In his fight with Trout, he was able to utilize his head movement to dodge several of Trout’s punches. Finally, in an older fight with Gomez, Alvarez could even be seen using a shoulder roll defense, although it may have looked as if Gomez’s pressure was getting the best of him.
Alvarez has a bag full of defensive tricks and he will try to use them with caution.
Alfredo Angulo: For a guy as tough as Angulo, defense is not a priority. Angulo leads with his head and does not know how to fight on his back foot. This makes for exciting bouts with toe-to-toe action. This also, unfortunately for Alvarez, makes for a man who can take a lot of punishment before being stopped.
Despite his lack of defense, will it stop Angulo from winning this fight? His past fights have showed that he will either need to be out of shape or grotesquely swollen. I expect neither to happen, which will force Alvarez to work until the twelfth round.
Advantage: Alvarez is much more skilled defensively. We will see Angulo walking away with a very small percentage of punches landing, with most of them landing on Alvarez’s glove.
Game Plan
Saul Alvarez: In the early rounds, we will see a careful and tentative Alvarez. In the same way we saw him enter the fight with Shane Mosley, Alvarez will take his time to find his rhythm. He will use his footwork, his high-guard defense, and make sure he doesn’t make any silly mistakes.
After Alvarez finds his rhythm, he will begin to throw more combinations after a solid jab. Alvarez will also seek to land counterpunches after Angulo’s much slower jab, and will work the body and head. Alvarez must be careful to not open up. Angulo showed in his fight with Lara that he can be dangerous well into the championship rounds.
Alfredo Angulo: Angulo will need to use his size advantage from the very first round. Alvarez has never fought a power-punching Junior Welterweight such as Angulo, so Angulo will need to make the power difference very clear from the beginning of he rounds.
Angulo is great at throwing punches from odd angles, and will need to throw his jab and right hand from whatever angle possible. If he can continually switch he angle from which he throws, Alvarez will be gunshy to step forward with combination counterpunches.
In the later rounds, Angulo will need to push the action with the same intensity as the first round. We have seen Alvarez grow tired in the later rounds and he may even choose to give one or two away if he feels comfortable enough. If Alvarez seems to find a rhythm, Angulo will need to make sure he catch him off guard and keep him on his toes.
This is being billed as “Toe-to-Toe” but we could also be expecting a classic boxer vs. brawler matchup. Whether or not we see “Toe-to-Toe” will be determined by how Alvarez reacts the first hard punch Angulo lands.
Prediction
Although entering the ring with a rabid dog, I have Alvarez winning a tough fight. Alvarez will be on his toes for most of the fight, but will most likely outbox Angulo en route to a split decision.
