By Thomas Gerbasi
There’s nothing like a big fight night in Las Vegas. It’s the perfect place for fans to see and meet their heroes, and also a big deal for the fighters, as they have a chance to be seen and to greet their public.
Promoter Gary Shaw knows this, so he made it a point to bring one of his hot prospects, 2004 Mexican Olympian Alfredo ‘Perro’ Angulo, to the MGM Grand a little over a year ago, to test the waters of public perception.
Shaw was shocked by the reception Angulo received as they left the arena, but there was something different about the whole thing.
“People are stopping him, taking pictures, but he’s laughing his ass off,” recalled Shaw. “I’m looking at him, but I’m not getting it. Well, it probably took us way over an hour to go from the MGM Grand Arena to outside, and he’s still laughing the whole way.
"We finally get to the front door and I go ‘Perro, what’s so funny?’ He says, ‘Papa, they think I’m (Antonio) Margarito.’”
Even today, with Angulo firmly entrenched in the top ten of all four major sanctioning bodies’ junior middleweight rankings and his name established among fight fans as one of the top young fighters in the game, Shaw and his fighter still laugh about the incident, which says as much about Angulo as it does about the lure of ‘celebrity’.
Not many folks in the public eye would continue to sign autographs or take pictures if they knew that they weren’t the original object of fan affection, but Angulo doesn’t fit the usual mode. It’s lifted his popularity far past that enjoyed by most fighters with just 17 pro fights.
“As fan-friendly as he is in the ring, he’s that fan-friendly outside of the ring as well,” said Shaw. “He doesn’t walk past people; when they acknowledge him he stops in his tracks, turns around and will take that picture or sign that autograph. He’s a regular person and that’s what creates superstars.
“There are a lot of fighters who are very, very good outside the ring, but they can’t do it inside the ring, and vice versa. He can do it in and out of the ring, and I’m a firm believer that people forget the good things that you do and the things that you say, but people never forget how you treated them.”
For the record, Shaw points out that after the Antonio Margarito vs Shane Mosley fight in January, it was another hour-long walk for he and his fighter to make it out of STAPLES Center in Los Angeles; this time it was because of people yelling for Angulo and stopping him for autographs and pictures.
It was perfect timing for the native of Mexicali. Not only did Mexican icon Margarito lose a fight that night in January, but he saw his reputation take a major hit when it was revealed that his handwraps (which were confiscated before the bout) contained calcium and sulfur, two of the primary elements of plaster of Paris.
Rven though Angulo suffered a loss of his own when he was decisioned by Kermit Cintron in May, he is still seen as the type of fighter that can pick up the mantle of Mexican warrior for the current era and run with it over the next few years.
“I don’t think that there’s a Mexican fighter that people can get behind,” said Shaw. “They’re looking for the next hero. For sure it’s not Julio Cesar Chavez Jr. I think Margarito was on his way and when the plaster came out of the wraps, that was devastating not only to Margarito, but to the Mexican fans. So I think they see ‘Perro’ as that next person they can latch on to and say ‘he’s our fighter.’”
I know what you’re thinking right about now. Of course Shaw is saying this. He’s a promoter, and he’s pushing his fighter. But when it was revealed earlier this month that Angulo and trainer Clemente Medina had actually moved in with Shaw and his family in the lead-up to ‘Perro’s November 7th bout in Connecticut against Harry Joe Yorgey, a new wrinkle was added to the tale.
“There’s something about ‘Perro’ that I really love beyond boxing,” said Shaw. “Maybe I have a soft spot for the way he grew up. He’s told me where he came from and some of the things he had to do, and there’s a connection. If ‘Perro’ hurts me, I’ll really be hurt. I’ve opened up my heart and home to him and I don’t take it lightly that he calls me ‘Papa’ or my wife ‘Mom.’”
Shaw has been down this road before; most notably with former super middleweight champion Jeff Lacy, who had an acrimonious split with the promoter in 2006 after the two seemed virtually inseparable over the years. Even Shaw’s wife Judy was concerned.
“I thought we learned our lesson,” she said to her husband. But Shaw was insistent.
“It’s who I am, and I guess some things don’t change no matter how many times you get burned.”
So in came Angulo, whose English is still a work in progress, with Medina, to Wayne, New Jersey on October 12th.
“I’m happy, I have everything I need,” said Angulo through a translator. “I don’t think I want to go back to Los Angeles. (Laughs) I’ve got my room here, food, everything.”
Angulo has quickly become a part of the family, scaring Shaw’s son Jared in the middle of the night, parking himself in the patriarch’s favorite chair in front of the television, and making such an impact that even when the promoter travels to Texas for this week’s ShoBox card, Judy Shaw has insisted that Angulo and Medina stay and not get put up in a hotel.
The way things are going, Angulo may not be kidding when he says he doesn’t want to leave.
“That’s what I’m afraid of,” laughs Shaw. “This is one dog I may have to take the leash off and let him run away.”
Yet beyond the laughs and practical jokes, there is still work to get done, the main reason for the trip.
“First of all I wanted to get used to the time difference, but also the weather,” said Angulo. “I have to get my body used to getting to the weight in this kind of weather because I’m really not used to working out in the cold. I’ve never had a problem reaching my weight, but I know things could be different in the cold.”
Despite the strange surroundings, Angulo has not strayed from a disciplined path as he gets ready for Yorgey. He runs his five miles in the morning, goes to the gym for his sparring, and in the evening he hits LA Fitness for some more conditioning. Medina does the cooking, and he keeps his charge on a military-esque schedule
“He (Angulo) is most regimented person I ever saw,” said Judy Shaw.
He needs to be, especially at this critical juncture in his career. He is the favorite to beat the unbeaten Yorgey on November 7th in Hartford, but it is an HBO-televised bout and the first chance the premium network’s subscribers have had to see Angulo since his spring loss to Cintron. So he’s taking every precaution leading up to the bout, including getting acclimated to the east coast and zoning in on his opponent, who is coming off an upset ninth round KO of Ronald Hearns in March.
“I never focus on the name of the fighter, but on his record, who he’s fought before, and how much heart he puts into this,” said Angulo. “I know that he (Yorgey) is a really good fighter who throws a lot of punches, and he puts a lot out there and takes his fights seriously. So I respect him.”
As for the Cintron fight, it’s a night Angulo would like to forget. Seen as his worldwide coming out party, the Mexican up and comer instead ran into a Cintron who surprised many with his disciplined boxing and ability to withstand Angulo’s pressure. When it was over, the former welterweight champion survived a late surge from Angulo and was awarded a unanimous decision victory.
Later it was revealed that Angulo came down with a stomach flu days before the bout but refused to pull out of the fight.
“We were only four days away from the fight, and I thought there was too much on the line – the fans, TV - and I felt like I would be disrespectful by backing down four days before the fight,” said Angulo, who was pinned with his first pro loss by Cintron.
“He wasn’t right for the fight and I wanted to pull him out of the fight, but he didn’t want to get pulled out,” added Shaw. “He’s a warrior and I respect that about him. He was very upset after the fight that he let me and the fans down and he said that will never happen again.”
The result was seen as an upset in some quarters. Truth be told, despite all the hype behind Angulo leading up the bout thanks to a five fight knockout streak that saw him take out Archak Ter Meliksetian, Ricardo Cortes, Richard Gutierrez, Andrey Tsurkan, and Cosme Rivera, taking on Cintron was a major step-up in class for him, despite the Puerto Rican’s own flaws.
Shaw says he would do it all again though – with the exception of the pre-fight flu of course.
“I would fight Cintron in a heartbeat again,” he said. “He (Angulo) would beat him ten out of ten times. I thought we’d win the fight going away. I thought he’d break Cintron down and I thought he would knock him out in the later rounds.”
As far as his own breakdown of the fight, Angulo admits to having some early difficulty with Cintron’s movement, which wasn’t helped by his lack of energy that night.
“When Cintron was moving a lot in the ring, I felt like I didn’t have the energy or strength that I usually do,” said Angulo. “The first few rounds it really frustrated me, but halfway through the fight, when I realized that Cintron really didn’t have that much strength or power, I tried to use everything I had to put on more pressure, but it wasn’t enough to knock him out in the last round. I also think that the referee was also favoring Cintron.”
Of course, this is all conjecture at this point, considering that the fight is over, Angulo got the loss and Cintron the win. Angulo wouldn’t mind lacing them up with ‘The Killer’ again though, and he’s quick and firm with his prediction.
“It wouldn’t go six rounds.”
That being said, an old boxing adage is that you learn more from a loss than a win. Angulo said he has never watched all 12 rounds of the bout, but he did pick up some valuable lessons regardless.
“I watched the first two rounds and didn’t recognize myself, so I decided not to keep watching because I know I was ill,” he said. “The most important thing I learned is that I will never fight again, no matter how many days it is before the fight, if I’m ill. Secondly, I know Cintron’s a very good fighter with great experience, but that’s not enough to take me down. I have to put in the work in the gym, gain as much experience as possible, and hopefully never lose again.”
Shaw, who has a little better view from the outside, sees what most of the rest of us saw in the talented, but still raw, Angulo.
“I’m always telling ‘Perro’ he needs to move his head more, that he doesn’t have to take as many punches to deliver punches,” said Shaw, who nonetheless believes that he still has a future champion to join his current titleholders Chad Dawson, Vic Darchinyan, and Tim Bradley.
“Look, he’s a throwback to the old-time fighters, and he’s a true Mexican fighter. He knows how to cut off the ring, and he keeps putting pressure on the opponent until he has him stalked. The difference between him and a lot of other fighters is that he throws a lot of combinations. He’s not a one punch fighter. And once he’s in your chest, he stays there. I believe that Angulo is still underrated. I believe he’s the single best 154 pounder in the world and I don’t know that he could get down to ’47, but if I took him up to ’60, I think he could be the best 160-pounder in the world.”
Yeah, that’s a promoter talking, but Shaw actually means what he’s saying, and that’s the important thing because he’s determined to give his fighter every opportunity to make it to the top and stay there. Now it’s just up to Angulo.
“He’s got what it takes to be a superstar, but obviously, he’s got to perform in the ring, he’s got to have those big fights and win them, and he’s got to win the defining fight,” said Shaw. “Maybe he’ll be a Julio Cesar Chavez someday, or maybe he’ll never be. But I’m not doing it based on him being a big star, earning a lot of money, or whatever. There’s something special about him and it’s not something I can put my finger on.”
What it may come down to is that for as punishing and relentless the 27-year old Angulo can be in the ring, outside of it he’s looking to do more than just build up his bank account. He wasn’t brought up with a silver spoon in his mouth, and a lot of people can relate to that story.
“I was never starving or hungry,” Angulo recalled. “We had food on the table all the time, but I didn’t have much more. My goal was to make it to the Olympics, and I realized that. And after I went on to my professional career, I decided that I didn’t want to be an ordinary fighter. I wanted to stand out, represent my people, and be popular, not just for my own fame, but to make the people and the country happy. I also want the kids to realize that it doesn’t matter where you come from –as long as you have goals in life, you can achieve anything.”
No doubt, Angulo is far from an ordinary fighter, and he’s already laid the groundwork to become one of Mexico’s new fistic heroes. But can he cross over?
You know Shaw has an answer to that question.
“Mexican fans are very loyal,” he said. “American fans don’t care where someone comes from. If you can fight, they’re fans.”
