Showtime Sports Presents: Canelo Alvarez vs. Alfredo Angulo Saturday March 8
The 31-year-old puncher from Mexicali, Mex., Angulo (22-3, 18 knockouts) shares California-based trainer Virgil Hunter with former junior welterweight beltholder Amir Khan and RING 168-pound champion Andre Ward.
Sessions with Khan helped Angulo to make adjustments for speed, while those with Ward improved his resolve against a larger fighter whose skills and technique Angulo believes are superior to those of Alvarez (42-1-1, 30 KOs).
"Amir and Andre told me that I'm ready. They told me this is my time," said Angulo, who will face Alvarez Angulo on Showtime Pay Per View from the MGM Grand in Las Vegas, site of Alvarez's first career loss to Floyd Mayweather Jr. in September. "I'm ready now, and I will give the fans my best performance against Canelo. You will see the best Alfredo Angulo on Saturday."
In his last bout, in June, Angulo scored two knockdowns during a brutal and dramatic 10th-round stoppage loss to southpaw Erislandy Lara.
Alvarez is ready to make it two losses in a row for Angulo.
"I'm just happy to be back in the ring. It's a tough fight, but I'm very confident. I learned a lot from fighting Floyd, but I'm ready to get back in the ring to maintain the path that I was on before," said Alvarez, 23.
"This is what I love to do. I live to fight, and we're ready for Saturday. I'm fully concentrated on this fight. What happened in September is in the past. I'm focused on Saturday and Angulo. I'm here for the fans. That's what I fight for."
Angulo is equally motivated to be in a crowd-pleasing affair.
"Every fight is important, but this one is more special because all of the fans in Mexico will know that the winner of this fight is the No. 1 Mexican fighter," said Angulo.
"It's a huge fight for Mexico, and it's a huge fight for Canelo and me. Everyone can have their own opinion on who will win the fight. My fans know what I do in the ring and they know what to expect on Saturday night. My hand will be raised."
Two of the most exciting fighters in the sport and it will be a toe-to-toe battle. That is what we are calling the card, ‘Toe-to-Toe.’”
The undercard has some good fights in Cristian Mijares facing WBC super bantamweight champion Leo Santa Cruz, Omar Figueroa facing Canelo’s older brother Ricardo Alvarez and Nihito Arakawa taking on Jorge Linares. Those are three very solid fights, and it definitely makes the fight card PPV worthy.
The negative about the card is that both Canelo and Angulo are coming off of defeats. Canelo lost to Floyd Mayweather Jr. last September; while Angulo was beaten by Erislandy Lara by a 10th round TKO last June. Canelo tried his best, but he just wasn’t ready for a fighter like Mayweather at this early stage in his career. It was too much of an upgrade from Canelo’s last opponent Austin Trout. Canelo tried to box with Mayweather for the first half of the fight, but that didn’t work.
When he started trying to slug with Mayweather in the 2nd half of the fight, it was too late because Mayweather had already built up a wide lead and he was able to use his feet to stay out of the way of Canelo’s big shots. Angulo suffered an eye injury in his fight with Lara in which his orbital bone was damaged. However, he’s healed up from the injury and is ready to go. Angulo would have had a good chance of beating Lara if not for the eye injury, because he had knocked him down twice and was wearing him down with body shots.
Canelo will need to use movement against Angulo if he wants to get out of this fight in one piece, because he hits too hard and he can take a lot of punishment. We don’t know yet how good Canelo’s chin is. Angulo will definitely give us a clear picture of how good of a punch Canelo can take by the time their fight is over on March 8thA.
Article courtesy of the ring
Boxing Schedule for the Month of May
HBO
Saturday, May 17 2014
The Forum, Los Angeles, CA
Juan Manuel Marquez vs. Mike Alvarado (super lightweight)
ESPN2
Friday, May 23 2014
Turning Resort & Casino in Verona, NY
ESPN Middleweight Tournament Final
ESPN Lightweight Tournament Final
Showtime
Saturday, May 24 2014
Bell Centre in Montreal, Canada
Adonis Stevenson vs. Andrzej Fonfara (WBC light heavyweight title)
Friday, May 30 2014
Cobo Center in Detroit, MIchigan
Tony Harrison vs. Bronco McKart (middleweight)
HBO
Saturday, May 31 2014
Wembley Stadium, London, England
Carl Froch vs. George Groves (IBF/WBA super middleweight title)
Anthony Joshua vs. TBA (heavyweight)
HBO2
Saturday, May 31 2014
CotaiArena at Venetian, Macao, China
Nonito Donaire vs. Simpiwe Vetyeka (WBA featherweight title)
Nicholas Walters vs. Vic Darchinyan (WBA "regular" featherweight title)
Egveny Gradovich vs. Alexander Miskirtchian (IBF featherweight title)
Saturday, May 31 2014
KoenigPalast in Krefeld, Germany
Felix Sturm vs. Sam Soliman (IBF middleweight title)
Saturday, May 31 2014
Velodrom, Berlin, Germany
Arthur Abraham vs. Nikola Sjekloca (WBO super middleweight title)
Boxing Schedule for the Month of June
Wednesday, June 4 2014
The Trusts Arena in Auckland, NZ
Super 8 heavyweight tournament
Hasim Rahman
Samuel Peter
Kali Meehan
Michael Sprott
Martin Rogan
HBO PPV
Saturday, June 7 2014
Madison Square Garden, NYC
Miguel Cotto vs. Sergio Martinez (WBC middleweight)
Saturday, June 7 2014
Metro Radio Arena, Newcastle, England
Stuey Hall vs. Paul Butler (IBF bantamweight title)
HBO
Saturday, June 14 2014
Barclays Center, Brooklyn, NY
Ruslan Provodnikov vs. TBA (WBO super lightweight title)
Demetrius Andrade vs. Brian Rose (WBO super welterweight title)
NBCSN
Saturday, June 21 2014
Mohegan Sun at Pocono Downs in Wilkes-Barre, PA
Anatoliy Dudchenko vs. Nadjib Mohammedi (IBF light heavyweight eliminator)