Preview: Lara-Angulo The Fight For Cotto?

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June 8th, 2013 should be marked on your calendars. On this night, Showtime brings us an excellent card filled with some exciting fights. Among them, the most intriguing one is a junior middleweight bout between Erislandy Lara and Alfredo Angulo. 

On paper, it is easy to simply label this a showcase fight for Erislandy Lara but Angulo might have something to say about that come fight night. Lara, as we know, is a talented southpaw boxer who has the ability to outbox any opponent. His style usually spells doom for fighters like Alfredo Angulo who likes to come forward and overpower his opponents. However, there were times during his fights with Freddie Hernandez and Vanes Martirosyan where Lara seemed uncomfortable, particularly when they smothered him. If Angulo and his team are able to follow the game plan, this fight can turn to the most entertaining fight of the night. 

Angulo, on the other hand, looked extremely subpar in his last fight against the surprisingly game Jorge Silva. After being defeated by James Kirkland, Alfredo Angulo has looked extremely rusty in his comeback fights. Is he a shot fighter or was he simply shaking the ring rust off?  We know Angulo can punch and it’ll be interesting to see if he can apply smart, calculated pressure to the slick southpaw. 

The winner of this fight will be looking to fight a top name their next time out so there will be plenty motivation to prevail on this night. The fight will have the interim WBA belt on the line. The regular WBA belt is held by Canelo Alvarez and the Super WBA belt is held by Floyd Mayweather, Jr. In case you haven’t heard, there is a big fight between the two in September. Now while either guy getting the winner or loser may be a long shot (both have been the mandatory for Canelo), that interim belt might entice one Miguel Cotto to fight the winner as Cotto is still out there without a definite opponent and with a stacked junior middleweight division. Couple that with him wanting big fights to end his career, both fighters will be ready to go come Saturday night. June 8th will be one for the books!