De La Rosa Ready For Big Stage With Alfredo Angulo

By Edward Chaykovsky

James De La Rosa (22-2, 13KOs) is training for the most high profile fight of his career. He returns on September 13th at the MGM Grand in Las Vegas, where he faces Alfredo Angulo (22-4, 18KOs).

The fight will be part of the undercard to the Floyd Mayweather-Marcos Maidana Showtime Pay-Per-View.

Angulo, coming off two TKO defeats to Saul Alvarez and Erislandy Lara, will make his debut as a middleweight. The fight is going to happen at a catch-weight of 162-pounds.

De La Rosa has never fought on such a big stage and he's viewed as a big underdog in the fight. Angulo took a lot of punishment in his last two fights, but he's still a big step up in class for De La Rosa.

"I know it's not any other fight, this is a big stage for me. Basically I've got to be in my zone, and I've got to block everything out and do what I've got to do and do what I do best on that stage to get that win and just train hard. That's what I'm doing. I've been training hard and getting ready for it. I just can't let the crowd distract me or anything like that. I've got to focus on myself," De La Rosa said.