What a difference six months makes. In September of 2013 Canelo was considered by many as the “chosen one,” destined to dethrone Floyd Mayweather. At the time Alfredo “El Perro” Angulo was poised to become a champion in his own right. Yet, both suffered setbacks in their last appearances in the ring; Álvarez to Mayweather and Angulo to Erislandy Lara. Now each needs the other to get their respective careers on track. It’s a difficult scenario as a loss for either could dim their star or worse yet, relegate them to “stepping stone” opponent. So what can we expect Saturday March 8th when the two meet in a bout being billed as “Toe-to-Toe?” Who will win Canelo v. Angulo? Check out our take.
The Canelo and Angulo Paths
Canelo Álvarez has been carefully groomed by his trainers and promotion company Golden Boy to essentially be the next golden boy. To date it’s been a massive success, with Álvarez winning 42 bouts, becoming the junior middleweight champion at just 21-years-old and amassing a following large and loyal enough to make him one of the biggest draws in boxing and a virtual rock star in his native Mexico. Despite this, Canelo has had his share of critics. One of the common gripes being the quality of his opposition and its meticulous curation that is being made to assure the Canelo train keeps running. It’s a notion Angulo seems to agree with. In a pre-fight conference call Angulo stated,
“Canelo has a lot of fans, thanks to the work that they’ve done with him in the media…People do love him, and I respect him, but I think that he is a boxer that has had his career handed to him. Canelo hasn’t fought anyone aside from Floyd Mayweather. I’ve earned my respect through my fights.”
To his credit, Canelo seemed to quell some of that noise when he defeated then unbeaten Austin Trout in a title unification bout. Trout was the quality opposition critics had been clamoring for and Canelo stepped up his boxing game and defeated Trout. The victory helped him get the shot at Mayweather, but the result may have proved the critics correct. Mayweather clearly out boxed Canelo when they met. So were the critics right? Or was Canelo simply in the unfortunate position of having to face one of the best of boxers of his generation? This fight against Angulo looks to serve as a confidence builder and put his career back on track while perhaps answer these questions. However, there is risk. Angulo is no walkover; he’s hard hitting with knockout power, one misstep and Canelo will find himself in Victor Ortiz territory.
As for Angulo, one would argue it’s been less fast-track than that of Canelo. At 31-years-old the Mexican slugger has taken a more traditional path, facing anyone anywhere just to keep moving forward. Outside of the ring, he’s faced just as many obstacles that have slowed his progress. Most notably, in the form of an expired work visa. When Angulo voluntarily surrendered to a U.S. immigration center to resolve the issue, he was told he’d be detained for three days. Three days turned into eight months. Anyone tuning into Showtime’s All Access: Canelo v. Angulo can’t help but have sympathized with his plight. Nonetheless Angulo has soldiered on and his efforts in and out of the ring have resulted in this Canelo bout.
The Outcome
Backgrounds aside, we’re putting our money on Canelo to win this one, either by unanimous decision or late round stoppage. Angulo’s style is tailor made for Canelo. He wades straight in and does not have a tremendous amount of speed. Angulo often depends on finding the range in which he can connect and when he does his power and combination punching take care of the rest. This is something the Canelo camp is clearly aware of. In the pre-fight press conference Canelo stated,
“Alfredo Angulo is a very strong fighter, and he knows how to come forward. He knows how to throw a punch and take a punch and he comes to fight. I’m sure you want to see a fight and you don’t want to see a guy who is going to be running all night.”
In this case Canelo is the superior boxer with just as much power as Angulo. After the Mayweather bout Canelo has been quite vocal about his desire to increase his technical game. As such we anticipate that his game plan will be just that – a technical one – a measured attack in which he boxes and effectively mixes combinations to both the head and body to weaken Angulo should the bout go to the later rounds. It’s a stage of the bout in which Angulo has had difficulty. Although Canelo can, and will, trade with Angulo you can bet he will rely heavily on boxing rather than slugging.
The Wildcards
While this is how we see it playing out, this is boxing ladies and gentlemen and anything can happen. So what are some wildcards? For Canelo, it’s PTMD (post-traumatic Mayweather disorder). You just never know how a fighter will bounce back from a loss, especially a previously undefeated fighter. Canelo has said all the right things to the media, in the pre-fight presser he addressed the loss,
“I can’t tell you all the things I learned from my last fight, but there is a long list. I don’t take it as a loss. I take it as a learning experience. And that is what’s going to keep me going. That’s the greatest thing about this sport. You learn and you move on.”
While we think Canelo is over the first loss of his career, only a dominant performance can tell for sure.
For Angulo, its his trainer Virgil Hunter; a 2011 trainer of the year, he knows how to draw up a game plan and bring the best out in his fighter without materially altering the fighter’s style. Moreover, Angulo has the benefit of sparring with a roster of current and former champions in the form of Andre Ward, Amir Kahn and Andre Berto. Finally let’s not forget that the guy has legitimate knockout power, and in boxing one punch is all it takes – just ask George Foreman.
