In the opening bout of the Floyd Mayweather vs. Marcos Maidana undercard on Showtime pay-per-view, middleweight (very) fringe contender James De la Rosa beat up former 154-pound contender Alfredo Angulo, perhaps ending his career.
Angulo, who’d blown up to 180 pounds since the weigh-in, looked ponderously slow. El Perro has never been a speedster, but the move to 160 has done him absolutely no good — he looked just as bad as he did against Canelo Alvarez. Angulo (22-5, 18 KO) didn’t seem to have the thudding power he did at 154 and often seemed unable to pull the trigger at all.
De la Rosa (23-2, 13 KO) dropped Angulo with a pair of left hooks in round 2, and hit him with everything and the kitchen sink for the rest of the fight. Angulo had about 20 seconds of success as the pair brawled to end round 4, and as De la Rosa seemed to slow down the Mexican found his signature overhand right. That didn’t last, though, and the very next round De la Rosa slashed Alfredo’s face open with an up-jab. The cut didn’t seem to phase Angulo, but he’s not exactly a demonstrative guy at the best of times.
Angulo was docked a point in the 7th for low blows, but by that point it was totally academic. At the end of the next round referee Russell Mora told Virgil Hunter he wasn’t going to let Angulo take too much more punishment, prompting the coach to tell his charge his career would be over if he didn’t get the knockout. It worked, and Angulo charged hard in the final two rounds, as De la Rosa tired and stood in front of him.
In a thrilling finish to a sad fight, De la Rosa was on wobbly legs for most of the 12th and was either unwilling or unable to tie up. He made it through, though, and won the unanimous decision by scores of 98-90, 96-92 and 99-89. Hopefully Angulo heeds Hunter’s advice and leaves the sport with his health intact.
(Angulo, right, De La Rosa, left; Photo via Showtime)
