Alfredo Angulo Is On a Fast Track To A Title

Posted by Igor Frank on 05.08.2008

Angulo ready to explode onto HBO's Boxing After Dark.


Alfredo Angulo is training for his upcoming bout with Richard Gutierrez at the Maywood boxing Club under a watchful eye of his trainer and confidant Clemente Medina. The bout is scheduled to take place on May 17th, 2008 at the Buffalo Bills Hotel in Primm, Nevada and will be televised on HBO Boxing After Dark as part of a very exciting triple header to feature Angulo, Kirkland and Gamboa.

Angulo knocked out his last eight opponents within four rounds or less and the last three combatants seemed like a very solid competition until they stepped in the ring with Alfredo: undefeated Emmanuel Gonzalez got knocked out in the second round in Chumash Casino in September of 2007, Arrchak Termeliksetian with good boxing skills and decent power, who was considered a big step up in class got knocked out in the first round in November of 2007, Ricardo Cortez who came down in weight from middle weight and who had all physical advantages plus professional experience in his favor got knocked out in the first round in Minnesota in February of 2008. But what really caught my eyes with Angulo is his sparing session with Roman Karmazin, ex champion and one of the top rated junior middle weights of today. The sparring session took place at the Wild Card Gym in Hollywood, California in January of 2008, while famous trainer Freddie Roach was preparing Roman for his scheduled scrap with Alex Bunema at Madison Square Garden in New York. I questioned an insider of who Karmazin was sparring with. Angulo was able to back up taller, more experienced Karmazin with longer reach, throughout the session and used short compact crisp punches to dictate the pace in the ring. It was so unexpected that I asked Romans manager Steve Bash if there was anything wrong with Karmazin, who told me that he was getting over a bad flue. But the fact that a young relatively inexperienced fighter, Alfredo manhandled Karmazin during sparring was permanently stamped on my mind, so when I heard that Angulo is fighting on May 17th; I decided to go visit him in training.

Maywood Boxing Club is a grim, painted brown, oversized house that is located at the end of residential street in Maywood, an industrial area located South East of downtown Los Angeles, inside no frills, two raised rings, black cement floor and a few speed and heavy bags in the back, not much on the walls; a few posters of old fights on the right and a huge old mirror on the left. It is a real boxing gym and it smells like one with blood mixed in with sweat…

Clemente Medina, Alfredo's trainer was very nice and hospitable to me, but told me that I could talk to Angulo after the work is done. He was happy to allow me to watch the sparring session, but then just to make sure I was a boxing guy, he asked me to pick a winner of Margarito vs. Cotto fight. Then he shared things about Oscar De La Hoya and how much good he has done with a quiet proud look in his eyes, he told me about a new complex Oscar was building for elderly people in Las Vegas and concluded that Oscar was a good man.
Angulo showed up at the gym five minutes before eleven with his photographer Miguel to videotape the session and an assistant trainer Mr. Jimenez. To watch Clemente massage and wrap up hands of his charge was like watching a parent diaper a newborn baby; with love and fatherly care. Angulo is a hard man, but he was smiling from ear to ear enjoying his coach's affection. You can not fake love and you can't see it on a fight night, but I could see it in the gym with my own eyes and in the gym is where it all happens, where fights won and lost according to Mr. Jimenez, assistant coach , who has been around for thirty years and was happy to share finer points of boxing with me.

According to Medina, Tuesday sparring was devoted to speed: Angulo sparred five rounds with a lightweight contender Santa Cruz and then he sparred five more with Urbano Antillion. Even though it did look like Alfredo was holding back a bit to avoid hurting smaller guys , the session was at a brisk pace and I was particularly impressed with the way Angulo was gliding around the ring, something I have not noticed in the past, because of his aggressive hard charging style in the ring. Angulo, who represented Mexico in 2004 Olympic Games, knows his way around the ring, he can move just as well as he can brawl. Tomorrow session is devoted to power punching, then off sparing on Thursday, then back for more on Friday, Saturday and Sunday. Angulo is going to need all his boxing abilities and amateur experience on May 17th, against very tough foe in Colombian Richard Gutierrez, whose record of 24 wins, 14 by knock out with only one majority decision loss to a very talented Joshua Clottey in 2006, speaks for itself. I f Angulo can beat his opponent in an impressive fashion it might be a time to start thinking about a title shot, but that is the job for his papa promoter Gary Shaw. If you can't go to Nevada to watch it live, please catch it on TV, Angulo is a future of boxing and it is the most thrilling fight card for the month of May.