For years Saul ‘Canelo’ Alvarez has been captivating fans both on the undercard of Mayweather fights and headlining his own Showtime broadcasts. After years in the making, Canelo finally had his shot at the throne when he took on Floyd Mayweather in September of last year. Although the promotions and fight buildup was epic, the actual fight itself fell short of most fans expectations. Coming off his first professional loss, once again Alvarez steps under the bright lights of the MGM Grand Arena in Las Vegas when he takes on Alfredo “El Perro” Angulo.
After months of speculation on who Canelo would square-up against in the ring, it was announced the he would be fight fellow Mexico native Angulo. Once the fight was announced many thought that although Canelo lost a one sided defeat in his last time out, that this would be a great fight to gauge where Canelo’s skills are as a fighter. Angulo is no stranger to losing but has always shown to not only give great effort in fights but also that he would pressure Canelo forcing him to backup, which is something we have never seen. It’s because of Angulo’s toughness and persistence effort in the ring that Canelo wants to show what he’s worth in his first headlining Pay-Per-View.
“This was destiny. This was the fight that made sense, and we’re going to be there. The only thing I can tell you is the good thing is whenever you have a Mexican versus a Mexican it’s a guaranteed great fight, and that’s what we’re going to bring you March 8,”
Canelo has been a top the Jr Middleweight Division for sometime and other names that we mentioned to possible fight him were current IBF Jr Middleweight title holder Carlos Molina, and the man to have last beaten Angulo, Erislandy Lara. In the Lara fight, Angulo pressured him relentlessly knocking him down twice in the process. Then in round 10 Angulo suffered an eye injury that ultimately led to him stopping the fight. It’s because of this controversy that some feel that Canelo is selecting the easier opponent. Canelo feels that not only has Angulo proved himself time and time again to be a warrior, he’s also not going to listen to what people say because he know this is the right fight for him and the fans.
“There are always going to be critics. There’s always going to be people that have something negative to say. But at the same time, there’s always going to be fans and supporters that are going to be coming out in full-fledge, and as you see tickets are showing it, the sales. But the most important thing here is we have to train with full conscious of what we have in front of us, of how dangerous Alfredo Angulo is and can be during the fight, and that’s the important thing.”
Angulo’s nickname “El Perro” doesn’t even begin to describe the type of fighter he is in the ring. Angulo’s pressure almost proved to be too much for even a highly skilled former Olympic boxer in Lara. Training for a pressure fight like Angulo is quite the task but Canelo says that he has surrounded himself with the proper training partners and is preparing for the battle.
“We’re training for what we have in front of us. We have the sparring, the adequate sparring partners that are very similar to him, and we’re doing the adjustments, and obviously the experience is going to come out. We have the experience, and at the end of the day we’re going to go in there and win the fight.”
