HOMELIITR ARTICLESTHE RUNDOWNMAGAZINELIITR TVABOUT USFORUM RSS Feed ALFREDO ANGULO; “I WILL NEVER SAY NO TO AN OPPONENT.” JUNE 1, 2013 10:25 PM By Barbara Pinnella On June 8 Alfredo “El Perro” Angulo will step into the ring for the first time since his last fight back in the middle of December of last year – a fight that saw Alfredo get the unanimous decision. Angulo, who has a record of 22-2 with 18 KOs will face off against the tough Cuban Erislandy Lara (17-1-2, 11 KOs). In his last fight Lara fought to a draw against the undefeated Vanes Martirosyan. Recently I had a chance to meet up with Alfredo for lunch and was able to take that opportunity to talk with him a little bit about a variety of topics, and he has some strong opinions. But naturally, the conversation started with his training camp with Virgil Hunter. He said that he really likes working hard in all aspects of his training. But since he had not been in intense training for some months, I wondered if that had been a bit of a problem. “For the first month, yes, a little bit,” he laughed. “But I never stop the work. I stay in the gym and keep working. I stopped fighting but I never stopped in the gym. Most important for me is to stay in condition. You have to be disciplined. If you don’t stop the body stays in condition. “I had an offer to fight sooner, on April 20 on the card with Canelo (Alvarez) but my coach had to focus on Amir Khan. He told me he had to leave and be in England, so we turned that down. I was disappointed at first, but it was really no problem.” There was also a fight presented to him in May, but things kept going back from yes to no to yes again. Finally that date was rejected and the solid date of June 8 was signed, sealed and delivered. The talk moved to his opponent, Lara. The fight sets up with Erislandy being the boxer and Angulo the puncher, but how it will play out in the end is anyone’s guess. Alfredo feels that there is a certain approach that most of the fighters from Cuba take. “There is a Cuban style where the fighters move a lot, so I think Lara fights in that same style. But I always have a lot of respect for my opponents and I have respect for Lara. I saw him recently at a fight and he said hello. “A lot of guys act badly before the fight outside the ring, but he didn’t. I don’t either. I don’t care who it is, I respect everybody. But when we go into the ring, its different – no more friends.” There had been some scuttlebutt talk about Angulo getting a fight with Saul “Canelo” Alvarez, but Alvarez did not want that fight. That did not matter to Alfredo. “I don’t have a problem whether Canelo wants the fight or not,” he said. “I don’t care. For me, Lara was the first fighter who accepted the fight. Maybe this year or next year, Canelo’s fighting with me, I don’t know,” he smiled. (It is now known that Saul will face off against Floyd Mayweather in September.) Alfredo did have his thoughts on Canelo’s latest victim, Austin Trout. “I expected more from Trout,” he explained. “He’s a good fighter, but he didn’t look good in that fight. I don’t know why. When he was fighting Miguel Cotto he looked good, but when he fought with Canelo he looked very different.” Angulo in his last fight against Silva. Photo by Marlene Marquez With so many fighters having weight problems and not making weight, I wondered if that haunted Alfredo as well. “I am normally 176 pounds. That is typical for me. For now I want to stay and fight at 154. It is easy for me to take off the weight for my fight. Once I’m in training the weight comes off – four or five pounds minimum a week depending on the type of work. When you’re working hard you lose a lot of weight. “You are also eating good, clean food. But normally I don’t care, I eat everything. The problem is the portions, people eat too much. If you eat four or five times a day it’s better for your metabolism. But I do like candy,” he said with a smile. Angulo has been physically active his entire life, going back to when he was eight years old in Mexico. He has his own strong opinions regarding the importance of hard work and longevity, as well as taking a lot of medication. “Today the old people are different from the young people in Mexico. The old people live longer. They do hard work for many years, into their 60s or 70s. They live a very long time. But now, with the younger people, they don’t work like that and they are weaker. They die younger. “When I am sick,” he continued, “I don’t take medicine. The only thing I take is vitamin C. With the vitamin C, I don’t get sick. If my head hurts a little bit, I don’t take anything. When you take a lot of medication your body doesn’t work right. If you’re really, really sick and in the hospital, you get medicine. But when you are home and you get a little bit sick, it’s not good for your body to keep taking a lot of medicine. “In Mexico if you’re sick and you go to the doctor, you get medicine for one or two days. If you’re not better you go back to the doctor. Maybe next year if you get the flu you go back again. But not for everything.” So while Angulo is happy in that 154 weight class, he does not feel stuck there. “For now I’ll stay there,” he said. “But if I get a good opportunity for the title, and good money, maybe I’ll fight at 160. But right now there is really good talent at 154. There are a lot of fighters there; that division right now is the best. But I will never say no to an opponent. The preparations for the fights are the same – no problem.” Next Saturday Alfredo and Erislandy will go to war. Both are confident and each knows that this is a game-changing fight for them. Angulo is ready for the challenge and excited to show off his skills. One thing is certain; it will be exciting!
Posted on: Fri, 07 Jun 2013 01:07:30 +0000
Trending Topics
Recently Viewed Topics
© 2015