Alfredo ‘El Perro’ Angulo has had a tumultuous several months. If you’re still unfamiliar with his situation, Angulo turned himself in for an expired visa. He was held for several months in an immigration detention center for mishandled paperwork and an abuse of power by the very same people that were handling the process of his immigration and were in charge of his detainment.
Angulo returned in November of 2012 scoring an emotional one punch knockout of his opponent, Raul Casarez. To Angulo, the victory was more than just about him. In an interview with ThaBoxingVoice.com, Angulo explained, “I felt very happy but it wasn’t just for me the win, but for all the immigrants that were in the same situations that I was in. It was for all those people who were in the same situation as me who were wrongfully detained, they’re hands were raised that night too.”
Because of such a short night, Angulo returned the very next month to take on Jorge Silva a fighter moving up from 147 to 154; Angulo’s weight division. Most thought it would be an easy night for Angulo taking on a smaller guy who would most likely not be able to take the power punches from ‘El Perro’. However, the fight went the distance. Most left the fight thinking that Angulo wasn’t the same Angulo we have come to seeing since before his detention and his loss to James Kirkland.
Angulo disagreed with an interesting rebuttal. “I was the same “El Perro” Angulo you know. The only difference was the guy I fought took plenty punches. I don’t think anyone I ever fought took many punches. I don’t know if they did any anti-doping tests to be honest because I never hit a guy like that that didn’t drop. For my peace of mind, I really wish there was anti doping tests,” stated Angulo.
With the amount of controversy that has gone in the past year in boxing regarding positive tests for banned substances, it wouldn’t come to a shock to people if a fighter like Silva or any other boxer for that matter tested positive for any performance enhancing drug. For Angulo, it was a surprise to see a lifetime welterweight take his best shots and not drop, especially since Silva has been down multiple times in his career and stopped in two of his losses in the welterweight division. That being said, there is no way of Angulo knowing or anyone else knowing if people are cheating if the format of testing is going to be carried out but the regular state commissions.
Angulo went on to state, “I don’t know if he was or he wasn’t using anything. There was nothing specific in the contract for anti doping. But I know a lot of fighters are using different things to change their body. On top of damaging themselves, they are damaging the sport I love.”
Angulo also told us that he is definitely for pro-testing because on top of keeping things fair, he wants to prove he’s clean. Regarding random drug testing, Angulo stated, “Of course, I think it’s very important because I’ve done things correctly. I work hard and I’m clean. I want everyone in the sport to work hard and keep boxing clean because we as boxers should respect the sport. I definitely will ask for those types of tests moving forward because of what’s occurred in the past.”
ThaBoxingvoice.com also sat down with his head trainer, Virgil Hunter, who also agrees that there were rumors that there was foul play with Silva.
“There were rumors that Silva might not have been playing with a clean deck. You have to take those rumors serious. Was it obvious that it was that night? No. But there were rumors, so that’s all you can leave it at. I don’t know where the rumors came from but people projected that it might not have been fair play. You can’t take that any further because you don’t want to incriminate anyone without true facts. I don’t want to take anything away from Silva for taking the shots he did,” explained Hunter.
Hunter also feels that with time, we will see the Angulo of old. “Alfredo’s been off for a long time, so to expect him to be a this perfect machine is unfair to him because he’s been out of the business for a long time, and a tremendous ordeal that if anybody that had to go through would probably affect their performance as well. The more he gets acclimated to the business; I expect to see better performances. But I was pleased with his performance, had the fight gone 2 more rounds, I think he would have finished him.”
For Full Audio of the Angulo interview click here: http://thaboxingvoice.cogito24.com/alfredo-angulo-lanard-lane-guest-on-tha-boxingvoice-radio-t-v/8988
