By Ian S Palmer
Hard-hitting Junior middleweight contender Alfredo Angulo of Mexico will be slugging it out with fellow Mexican James De La Rosa this Saturday night September 13 at the MGM Grand in Las Vegas on the undercard of the Mayweather vs Maidana rematch. The 10-round bout will be contested at a catch weight of 162 lbs and will be shown in Canada and America on pay-per-view and on BoxNation in the UK.
The 32-year-old Angulo will climb through the ring ropes with a record of 22-4 with 18 Kos while the 26-year-old De La Rosa is 22-2 with 13 Kos to his name. They’re basically even in the height department at 5-feet-10-inches tall, but De La Rosa’s 72-inch reach gives him a three-inch advantage. Their pro experience is also as close as it gets since Angulo has boxed 119 rounds as a professional compared to De La Rosa’s 123.
This is quite misleading though since Angulo has certainly taken on tougher, more experienced opponents over the years and this fight is a huge step up in class for De La Rosa. Angulo was topped by Saul ‘Canelo’ Alvarez in his last outing back in March and he’s looking to get his career back on track with an impressive win here since he’s now lost two in a row. He was also stopped by Erislandy Lara in the 10th round. Angulo has a straightforward slugging style in which he’ll take two or three shots to land one of his own.
He’s got better than average power and even though he’s been stopped and decked on more than one occasion, still possesses a solid chin. Angulo seems to fight well against Grade A opponents, but has always fall slightly short. Against lesser-skilled foes such as De La Rosa, he’s proven to be a forced to be reckoned with. He’s now trained by Virgil Hunter and should be more than a handful for his opponent come Saturday night.
D La Rosa prefers to fight at a distance and control the pace of his fights with a good jab which he follows up with a hook. He’ll find Angulo right in front of him when the bell rings and better be prepared t either slug it out or outbox his foe. He’ll choose the boxing route since he can’t match Angulo in the power and aggression departments. De La Rosa better protect himself by keeping his hands up and making sure he stays out of Angulo’s firing range.
De La Rosa will need to throw quick, accurate punches to keep Angulo at bay and will also need to display a solid chin. Angulo will take the fight on the inside when he can by cutting off the ring and will be going to his opponent’s body as much as his head.
Prediction
This fight may not be as exciting as most of Angulo’s other bouts, since De La Rosa isn’t likely to get into a brawl with him. Angulo can get frustrated when he’s being outboxed and he isn’t that hard to hit. It’s possible that De La Rosa wins a few rounds early by using his boxing skills, but he shouldn’t have the power to keep Angulo off of him in the later rounds. Look for Angulo to eventually catch up to De La Rosa and take him out with a stoppage in the second half of the fight.
