By Cliff Rold

25-year old 2004 Mexican Olympian and professional Jr. Middleweight Alfredo Angulo (12-0, 9 KO) has gone fifteen rounds…in his last eight fights.  Friday night at the Grand Casino in Hinckley, Minnesota marked the fifteenth of those rounds and his second consecutive first-round demolition job on Showtime’s ShoBox series. 

The victim on this night was more experienced professional Ricardo Cortes (22-2, 15 KO) of San Jose, California.  That experience provided little resistance to Angulo’s right hand.  The measured first minute saw Cortes, who at 6’ tall had a two-inch advantage in height to compliment his superior reach, try to establish his jab to create opportunities for a long, looping right.  Angulo’s straight, sharp right, firm left jab and left hook to the body more successfully found their mark.

Just prior to the halfway point of the round, Angulo opened up with a devastating series of punches punctuated by vicious left hooks to the body and three blistering right hands, the last of which propelled Cortes to the mat.  Cortes rose on shaky legs and another right hand sent him to the ropes where he covered, slipped and held before trying to reassert his own right hand into the fray.

Cortes met some success, catching the aggressive Angulo coming in on a couple of occasions and tying him up once in pursuit of the chance at a second round.  Angulo would have none of that.  With both men trading in the dead center of the ring, Angulo would land a hard right hook and, as Cortes wound up a right of his own, another lethal straight right hand that sent Cortes flailing forward to his right knee with 13 seconds left in the frame.

Cortes rose, stumbling a couple of steps before taking a knee in his own corner, seemingly to wait out a mandatory eight-count.  Then the count reached nine and ten.  Cortes rose a split-second to late and mildly protested before congratulating the victor.

Angulo’s offensive displays appear to be those of a serious contender but he was hit with some wildly telegraphed shots so he remains a work in progress.  That progress is sure to accelerate with performances like this one and he has emerged prominently in these last two televised outings as one of the most exciting young prospects in all of boxing.

Angulo weighed in for the bout at 152 lbs. and Cortes at 153, both well under the division limit of 154 lbs.  He was the second former Olympian on display Friday night.

While he missed out on the opportunity to participate in Athens due to illness, 24-year old 2004 U.S. Olympic Featherweight Mickey Bey (10-0, 6 KO) of Cleveland, Ohio continued his pursuit of professional gold with a workmanlike if not memorable unanimous decision victory in the televised opener.  Bey’s opponent, 21-year old Roberto Acevedo (5-4-3, 1 KO) of Union City, New Jersey, came in on late notice and provided an awkward test.

The fight was competitive if tactical through the opening rounds but Acevedo was not able to produce the punch output to stay in the fight.  Bey worked effectively off the jab throughout and utilized a lead right in the closing rounds to maintain advantageous distance. Acevdedo landed a couple of hard shots in the final round but they were too little to late.  Bey prevailed by scores of 80-72, 77-76 and 79-73. 

It was Bey’s sixth fight in the last twelve months after being out of the ring for all of 2006.  Bey weighed in five pounds over the division limit at 131 pounds.

Cliff Rold is a member of the Ring Magazine Ratings Advisory Panel and the Boxing Writers Association of America.  He can be reached at roldboxing@hotmail.com