Tijuana Tornado, Training Camp Notes, Continued...Correction on weight Issue

Posted by Igor Frank on 07.13.2008

After I attended a board meeting of World Boxing Hall of Fame on Saturday morning, I had a choice to make; go watch an early HBO telecast of a heavyweight championship fight between Wladimir “Dr. Steel Hammer” Klitschko and Tony “The Tiger” Thompson or go watch Antonio Margarito spar with Alfredo Angulo. Guess where I ended up.



It was very hot and crowded inside the gym and while we were waiting for trainers to wrap the hands of their charges, Jesus Soto Karass was finishing up his sparring session with Miguel Hernadez, a tough customer from Guadalajara, Mexico. Francisco Arce, a promising flyweight and a brother of flamboyant Jorge Arce, just finished his work out and told me that he is scheduled to fight in Mexico next Saturday against rugged Jesus Martinez.

Finally, both guys were in the ring, wearing all black and head gear, Antonio had a Scarface t-shirt on. Today's sparring session was for power. Antonio pressed the action from the onset, heavy blows were resonating around the gym, the thudding body blows made me wince, and the purposeful hammer jab that Tony threw looked straight and hard and moved Angulo's head back from time to time. Alfredo took it all in stride moved out of the way and unleashed his own combination inside that seemed to stop Antonio in his tracks, but only for a second, after which Margarito continued to plod forward and throw heavy shots form all different angles. One punch that really impressed me was a half hook half uppercut to the body that Antonio winds up and fires like a baseball bat and when it lands it makes this sound that says bruised ribs, I do not know how many of those Cotto can take. And so it went on with both gladiators trading hard shots, blow for blow each resonating in my years. These are hard men. My imagination started to run wild with me: two years from now, Margarito cleaned out a welterweight division and decided to move up to super welterweight to challenge a newly crowned champ Alfredo Angulo, which would be a fight to see.

Back to reality, Angulo opened up in the third round and had Margarito on the ropes slipping punches and displaying defensive skills that I have never seen before. After the third round both guys took their t-shirts off, it was hot just watching them. Back at it they went, Antonio forcing the action, Angulo moving and firing back heavy blows. After the fifth stanza they took their head gear off and gave each other a friendly pet in appreciation of each others skills and heart. These five rounds had my heart pounding in awe of the fierce action inside the ring, just as if I was watching a big fight in Las Vegas.

Angulo went to do mitt work with his trainer Clemente Medina, while Margarito went five more hard rounds with Sebastian Lujan, who is scheduled to fight Jose Luis Castillo at the end of this month. Lujan is a short stocky boxer, who was trying to imitate Cotto and move quickly in and out firing hard combinations upstairs and downstairs. Funny, Sebastian even looked like Cotto, his highly developed upper body and stoic face gave Margarito all the motivation he needed to corner him and unleash lethal combinations.
Antonio seemed to have an upper hand in most of the exchanges, but it was fierce toe to toe action for five rounds.

The preparations are winding down with only slight sparring ahead so that he can be at his peak come fight time.

I have not said much about Miguel Cotto, a Puerto Rican superstar, who knows a thing or two about hard combat and that is only because I am stuck here in Southern California and have no access to Cotto's training camp. The only thing I can tell you is Miguel Cotto is a special fighter and he does not know how to loose and if he can pool this one off he has a blockbuster fight with Oscar on the horizon.

So if you can only afford one live fight this year, this is it: "The Battle", Antonio Margarito versus Miguel Cotto, Saturday, July 26th, 2008 at the MGM Grand Arena in Las Vegas, come witness boxing history.