By: Sergio L. Martinez

You read it right, kiddies. You’re old Uncle Sergio is off his meds again and had a vision: Angulo, his hand raised in victory, while Saul “Canelo” Alvarez sat on his stool, with his eyes glazed and a confused look on his mug. Both fighters looked battered so my epiphany appears to indicate rough conditions ahead for the combatants but I cannot swear on a stack of Bibles that this will be the case. All I can tell you is that I’m feeling “Perro” in this one, so lay your greenbacks down.

Angulo will come out looking to test his foe’s resolve early to see if there is any Mayweather-lag. He will keep the pressure on Alvarez, because that is who he is. Alvarez will be countering well but Angulo will be able to get inside and rough up the redhead with some body blows, a few head-butts and some punches south of the border. Alvarez will let frustration get the better of him, allowing “Perro” to break down Alvarez and stop him late in the fight. People will be shocked and I will laugh all the way to the bank. Of course, the flipside is that Angulo comes out and gets caught with one of Alvarez’s trademark hooks and it’s “goodnight.”

I understand and agree with the logic that Alvarez is the vastly superior boxer with all of the attributes in his favor. There is no question that “Canelo” should be the clear favorite and that Angulo is the perfect return fight for the Mexican star as he looks to get back on the win column. Unless Alvarez’s loss to Floyd Mayweather Jr. just completely took all of the confidence out of the young Mexican icon, it really should be an easy night for the redheaded dynamo, at least on paper. The problem is that fights are fought in the ring and not on paper.

Therefore, despite all of the evidence to the contrary, I think Angulo is going to pull off the upset for multiple reasons. Although he lacks defense, Angulo is not a defenseless pug: he is as strong as the day is long and able to make some adjustments mid-fight. He also has good distance and timing with his shots and tends to be reasonably accurate. “Perro” has a reliable chin and is always in top shape. Angulo is currently under the tutelage of recent “Trainer of the Year” Virgil Hunter and the union seems to be showing signs of progress.

In his last encounter with slick southpaw Erislandy Lara, which was also the first fight with Hunter in his corner, Angulo displayed all of his best talents; often, he was able to dictate the pace in the fight and drew Lara into range. “Perro” strafed the elusive lefty with hard punches and deposited him onto the canvas twice in the fight. An injury to the left eye rendered “Perro” unable to continue in the tenth, so it goes down as a loss but the fight was still very much in doubt at the time of the stoppage.

Needless to say, I shouldn’t be a betting man for obvious reasons and know that if Angulo doesn’t win, I’ll have to eat crow for a while. Still, I believe that there is so much at stake for both fighters but Angulo is the hungrier of the two. This will keep him upright when necessary and ultimately carry him to victory.

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