Canelo And Angulo Prep For War

When the first Pay-Per-View event of this year kicks off this Saturday night at the MGM Grand in Las Vegas, NV fans will have a sort of treat they are not used to seeing in a Pay-Per-View Main Event. Usually, when dishing out the $60 PPV price, the fans are subjected to watch a one-sided fight that seldom lives up to the hype that a PPV fight is supposed to give. There are good moments in some, and not all of the main events have been horrible to watch, but seldom is one considered a Fight Of The Year candidate. Rarely does one have a toe to toe action brawl that races the heart as if you are there yourself. 

This Saturday night though things will be different as Saul Canelo Alvarez (42-1, 30 KO’s) looks to bounce back from the first loss of his career as he takes on the hard hitting Alfredo Angulo (22-3, 18 KO’s). The fight, unlike most main events of these PPV caliber events, is expected to produce fireworks. A toe to toe battle that will have the fans at the edge of their seats. Canelo is the favorite but Angulo provides a danger that anyone that has seen him fight knows is very real. Most important, the chances of this fight being boring in any way, shape, or form is very low. With two explosive fighters who have a knack for brawling it’s going to be anything but boring.

Alvarez is coming off the hardest fight of his career where he suffered a loss to undefeated pound for pound king Floyd Mayweather. And while Mayweather was the hardest fight of his career to date, stepping into the ring with Angulo is widely considered the most dangerous opponent he has ever faced. With a nickname to define the danger that Angulo presents, “El Perro” which translates to “The Dog” in English, is by far the hardest hitting opponent Canelo has ever faced. He enters the ring with a collar around his neck and before the fight begins it is taken off by his trainer as a symbolic process to unleash the animal that Angulo is. Angulo has one gear. He comes forward, throws hard punches, and goes for the knockout out with bad intentions every second that he is fighting. There is no defense, no backing up, and no fancy dancing around the ring. He’s going straight for the kill. 

Canelo has shown signs of what Angulo is early in his career. The red headed kid from Mexico knows how to come forward with power shots. He can mix it up without backing up and boxing. He can knock people out. He likes to do it. While his last two bouts haven’t showed that, as he was forced to box more than brawl against two of the more defensive fighters in boxing with Trout and Mayweather, Saturday night in Las Vegas, NV on Showtime PPV provides an entirely different type of opponent. Angulo is coming to bring the pain and Canelo is ready for war with the expectation that because Canelo doesn’t like to back up he will go toe to toe with Angulo. That is great for the public who often in boxing walks away with the sense of being cheated out of $60.00 to watch a fight that wasn’t that great. 

This weekend the money will be worth the fight. That much should be guaranteed. Golden Boy made it clear that Angulo was chosen as Canelo’s March 8th opponent because of his fan friendly style. Angulo has never been in a boring fight. He proved that in his most recent loss against the defensive genius Erislandy Lara, who up until his fight against Angulo, had dominated every fight he had ever been in. Angulo dropped Lara for the first time in his career in the fourth round, and then again in the ninth. The fight was close going into the tenth but the amazing boxing skills of Lara had battered Angulo’s face so bad that he was forced to quit in the tenth. It’s hard to make Lara look exciting in a fight, and Angulo was able to do that. Canelo will not be hard to chase down. In fact, Canelo doesn’t back up much either. Angulo will be ready for a brawl and he’s going to get it.

Canelo’s last outing against Mayweather showed the world everything he wasn’t. This fight is expected to show everything that he is; a come forward combination puncher with bad intentions behind every punch. It was the type of style that was expected to give Mayweather problems. But the great Floyd Mayweather was able to keep Canelo at bay for the entire fight and Canelo’s strategy, whatever it was, vanished just a couple rounds into the fight. Canelo is looking to get back on the winning track against a formidable foe. Angulo is the perfect place to start. If Canelo wants to be a PPV star he’s going to have to show the fans his fights are worth the buy. This weekend he has the chance to do that, and winning, despite what most boxing experts think, is not going to be easy against a guy like Angulo.