This weekend, boxing fans will have numerous options on TV this week and both HBO and Showtime will be showing 2 great nights of boxing. Showtime will be presenting 2 great bouts from Carson, California, as “El Chino” Marcos Maidana (33-3 with 30 KOs) squares off against Josesito Lopez (30-5 with 18 KOs). Also on the card is a big junior welterweight fight as Erislandy Lara (17-1-2 with 11 KOs) will be facing “El Perro”, Alfredo Angulo (22-2 with 18 KOs), in a fight that could determine a huge chunk of the future of the 154 lb division. The fight will be for the interim WBA World Light Middleweight belt. The ironic part about both of these fights is that the winners could also have an outside shot at a Floyd or Canelo fight next year depending on who comes out on top.
Maidana is a powerful, exciting fighter that seems to be 1 of those boxers that beats everyone he’s supposed to, but isn’t at the elite level to take the next step. Two of his 3 losses have come to the likes of Devon Alexander and Amir Khan, but he has shown he can beat people like Jesus Soto Karass, Erik Morales, Victor Cayo, and Victor Ortiz. He hopes to have a good clean KO and will probably look and hope to face someone like Floyd Mayweather.
Lopez is a feel good story. Last we saw him; he was putting up a good fight, but was getting pounded, by a much bigger and stronger Saul “Canelo” Alvarez. Some of his other career highlights involve the infamous stoppage of Victor Ortiz when he broke his jaw, as well as a close split decision loss to Jesse Vargas. This is the weight class he should be at, as when he faced Canelo at 154 lbs, it was probably too big of a jump for him, but you can’t blame him for doing it and getting his payday.
Josesito Lopez, barring the Ortiz fight, isn’t exactly known for his power. He’s a fighter that fights with a lot of heart and he gets you to root for him by the end of the fight, but I feel his “feel good” story maybe soon coming to an end. Maidana hits hard and even though Lopez does have a good chin, he’s only faced 1 person with good power, and that was Ortiz, and Maidana hits harder than him. I think Maidana is hoping for bigger things and stops Lopez in the 8th round.
Erislandy Lara is probably the best 154 lb guy that isn’t in the spotlight for the world to know. He’s a very skilled, technically sound fighter that fights like how a lot of Cuban fighters fight. He wins rounds. Most Cuban fighters fight so many amateur bouts before they defect that they are trained to win on the judge’s scorecard, more Olympic boxing style. Lara is no different. So he will be looking to impress on a national TV stage after his disappointing draw against Vanes Martirosyan last November and hopefully move on to face someone like Canelo Alvarez, a fight he has wanted for over a year now.
Alfredo Angulo is guy who goes for the KO at every chance. Other than the fight against James Kirkland, in which he did knock Kirkland down in the 1st, but didn’t finish him, his strategy has worked. The Mexican, who resides in California, was detained in El Centro, California for 7 months after turning himself in for living in the US with an expired Visa. He has since fought 2 fights with 1 of them being a 1st round KO after being released in August 2012. He hopes that a win vs. Lara will resume his career onto the path that it was headed to before the Kirkland fight.
At this point in Lara’s career, between his long amateur career and his professional career, he has seen almost every type of boxing style there is. He will not be flustered by the aggressive style of Angulo, and as long as he doesn’t get caught with anything early, he should eventually start to take over the fight as it goes along, with Angulo’s lack of stamina. I expect Lara to get an unexpected stoppage late, around round 10, as Lara will turn it up late and a tired Angulo will start to wear down and eventually get dropped.
All in all it should be a great weekend of boxing, especially coming off what was a very slow week last week. Whether you are watching HBO or Showtime or both, you should be easily able to get your boxing fix for the week and on this card particularly, you should get 2 exciting fights with fighter that show a lot of heart, power, and some good interesting background stories, enjoy the fights.
