Miguel Cotto turning down Golden Boy Promotions' offer of $10 million to take on Canelo Alvarez was likely a painful one for Golden Boy's coiffers. A Cotto replacement has been named-"El Perro" Alfredo Angulo.
While Alvarez is undoubtedly a pay-per-view star, this particular fight may be a difficult sell to the boxing public. For one, both fighters are coming off losses their last time out. Alvarez was famously flummoxed by pound-for-pound king Floyd Mayweather Jr., while Angulo "quit" during a fight with Cuban counterpuncher Erislandy Lara.
Use of the word quit is unfair, as Angulo suffered brutal damage to his orbital bone that caused grotesque swelling. In that fight he was behind on the cards, but had floored Lara twice and made for an entertaining fight until the stoppage.
Having defeated Angulo, and dominated Austin Trout his last time out, Lara was very vocal about having earned the opportunity to take on Alvarez. His defensive style certainly turned off Golden Boy CEO Richard Schaefer though, who wants to re-establish Canelo as a dangerous slugger who puts on must-see fights.
"From the point of view of a promoter, I can say I'd prefer to see Alfredo Angulo more than the others from the point of view of his style. I think Angulo would be a great fight, people do not like chess matches," Schaefer said last month.
If a slugfest is what Schaefer is after, Angulo is a lock to bring it. He will come into the ring with a 22-3-0 record that includes 18 knockouts, while two of his losses were by knockout as well.
Angulo's trainer Virgil Hunter said, "Canelo is going to have to prove he can take a punch from a big junior middleweight. He's going to have to prove that he can gut it, because Alfredo can, and he's motivated for this fight."
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