By Ryan Burton
After becoming the first fighter to drop Colombian power puncher Joel Julio, Alfredo "El Perro" Angulo had visions of a quick return to the ring. The thunderous right hand that knocked out Julio in the 11th round had the boxing world buzzing for a few days but most likey won't lead to the summer turn around the junior middleweight hoped for.
A fall return to HBO seems more likely. The frustration of inacitivity appears to be worth the wait. The picture will become clearer in the next few weeks. Miguel Cotto makes his junior middleweight debut versus WBA champion Yuri Foreman on June 5th. Corey Spinks defends his IBF belt versus Cornelius Brundrage on June 12th. The winner's of both of those fights seem to be the most logical targets for the WBO interm champion.
WBO regular champion Sergiy Dzinziruk successfully returned to the ring this past Friday, defeating Daniel Dawson. Both fighters are promoted by Gary Shaw so the fight would seem to be easy to make but after an 18-month layoff Dzinziruk probably would want another tune up before taking on the relentless Angulo. Antonio Margarito is another interesting matchup but Top Rank needs to keep him in the Manny Pacquiao sweepstakes in the event that a mega-fight with Floyd Mayweather Jr. can't be made.
BoxingScene.com spoke to the Mexicali, Mexico native about who he wants to fight next and Angulo said that he didn't know what his manager and promoter had planned.
"I don't know what Gary (Shaw) has in mind. I know there are some big fights coming up in my division so I think he is waiting on the outcome of those fights before he decides what to do."
The conversation then turned to the only fighter to defeat Angulo and that is Kermit Cintron. Angulo missed the press conference to that fight and actually made the trip to Florida by car. For the record, Angulo said he was sick but didn't want to use that as an excuse.
Cintron lost a technical split decision on May 8th to Paul Williams in odd fashion. Cintron flew out of the ring after clinching with Williams and apparently losing his balance. The ring doctor called off the fight saying Cintron was unable to continue. Some people think Cintron dove out of the ring on purpose. Others think it was an accident.
Angulo was ringside for the fight and has his own opinion on what happened. When I first brought Cintron's name up, Angulo didn't know who I was talking about.
"Cintron? Who is that? Oh wait a minute, do you mean the newest member of Puerto Rico's 2012 Olympic diving team? Now I know who you are talking about. (laughing)," Angulo told BoxingScene.com.
When watching the replay of Williams and Cintron's entanglement, it doesn't appear that Cintron's feet ever touched Williams as he flew out of the ring.
"If Paul Williams would have tripped Cintron and he fell out that is one thing. Cintron dove out of the ring. That is bad for boxing. We don't need that in this sport," Angulo said.
Cintron said that he told the doctor he could continue fighting. In a story by BoxingScene's Rick Reeno, the doctor who attended Cintron said that he asked Cintron twice if he could continue and that Cintron told him no. Cintron's heart has been questioned in the past so many boxing insiders are not giving him the benefit of the doubt.
"People can say that I am saying that [about Cintron] because he beat me but I know what I saw. Other people are saying the same thing."
Angulo has said numerous times that he would love a rematch with Cintron but in this interview he said that he doesn't think it will ever happen.
"I don't think they will make that fight. I don't think they are interested in that fight. I have moved on. I want to fight someone who wants to fight back. I want to fight exciting fights."
El Perro, a late bloomer who didn't lace up a pair of boxing gloves until he was 17 years old, is an HBO favorite with his crowd pleasing style. Angulo's next opponent will probably be named towards the end of June or early July.
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