By Ryan Burton
BoxingScene.com spoke to Alfredo "El Perro" Angulo about the recent buzz created by his allegedly turning down a fight with WBC middleweight champion Sergio Martinez. Angulo's manager Mike Criscio told BoxingScene's Lem Saterfield that he thought Angulo should have accepted the offer of $750,000 for the fight.
Angulo told BoxingScene - "There has been a lot of talk that I don't want to fight Martinez and that I am ducking him. That is absolutely not the truth. I think a fight between myself and Sergio would be a great fight. He is a great fighter and a champion. I felt that he beat Paul Williams when they foughtt year."
El Perro says that he just wants to be treated fairly. He said he didn't ask for more money than Martinez even though he heard that Martinez was going to make substantially more money for the proposed fight. When I told him that it had been reported that he asked for $1 million dollars Angulo had this to say - "Look they offered me $750,000 for the fight and I told them to give me a little more. I told them I would take the fight for $900,000. It was basically take it or leave it. They didn't negotiate or anything. I heard from my managers one time and that was it."
Angulo went further into the discussions by saying - "Here is the thing people need to know. Martinez not only was going to make a lot more than me, they were also going to give him a percentage of the gate. They were talking about doing this fight at Staples Center (Los Angeles) and they were going to give him a percentage of the gate."
"Let me ask you a question Ryan. What kind of people are going to come to a fight in Staples Center?" I told him that it would be mostly Mexican people. He responded by saying, "Exactly. I am bringing the fans and he is getting a percentage of the gate but not me? I was at the Paul Williams-Kermit Cintron fight here in the LA area and there was way less than 1000 people there. Williams versus Martinez in Atlantic City wasn't exactly full either. They really wanted to make a rematch between Williams and Martinez and when that didn't happen they asked me to fill in. I would love the fight but treat me fair."
I told Angulo that other websites have reported that when he fought Joachim Alcine as the co-feature to the Tim Bradley versus Luis Abregu fight there were only about 2000 fans in attendance. The Mexican replied:
"That was Bradley's fight. I wasn't even on the billboard. He was the main event. My name was hardly on any of the fight cards and the few posters that my name was on it was written very small. That arena in Palm Springs barely holds over 2000 people anyway. This would be a fight where I am the main event. Lets see how many fans come out."
The arena at Palm Springs holds about 2200 people and even though there were a few empty seats the box office did turn away some people because the fight was sold out. (I attended the fight and heard from some fans after the fight that they were unable to purchase tickets)
Angulo ended the conversation by saying that if he was presented with a fair offer that he would be more than happy to fight Martinez.
"I think a fight between Martinez and myself is a big fight. Not just a regular fight but a very big fight that the fans would want to see. All they have to do is make a fair offer and we can do this."
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