By Jake Donovan
One division’s gain is another’s loss.
With Sergio Martinez’ middleweight title winning effort over Kelly Pavlik last weekend comes yet another hit to a junior middleweight division long in need of both leadership and identity.
Oddly enough, its top two fighters for the past year and change – Martinez and Paul Williams – have previously met at middleweight. Chances are, they could once again fight six pounds above where there is a greater demand for a void to be filled.
As distraught as middleweight has been in recent years, a lineal champion has always remained. Not the case one division below, which has lacked a true king since Winky Wright vacated the crown in 2005.
The absence of leadership could be forgiven if there was an identifiable figure drawing interest to the division. That such is not the case only piles on to the problems facing a division that once upon a time served as a money pit but in recent years has become a wasteland.
But all of that is about to change.
The next seven weekends will bear witness to four bouts which boast major significance to the junior middleweight division, beginning with this weekend’s televised co-feature on HBO.
Listed on the A-side is one fighter whose fighting style and engaging personality could go a long way towards drawing long desired interest – current top contender Alfredo Angulo.
The Mexican slugger was a fight away from challenging for a title a year ago before running into Kermit Cintron and suffering an upset loss to momentarily derail his progress.
Losing can either build character or it could permanently wreck you. If his past two fights are any indication, then Angulo has clearly chosen door number one.
Added to his resume since suffering the lone loss of his career have been two impressive knockout wins, stopping divisional spoiler Gabriel Rosado last summer and then coming back to violently knockout previously unbeaten Harry Joe Yorgey on HBO.
The streak put Angulo back on the same track he was following last year, as he once again finds himself one win away from alphabet title contention.
There is plenty of good news to go around for this weekend’s fight with former title challenger Joel Julio, which airs live on HBO’s Boxing After Dark from the Citizen Bank Arena in Ontario, California (Saturday, 11:15PM ET/PT), though most of it is based on an Angulo win.
Lucky for those involved in the fight, it comes at a time when the 2004 Mexican Olympian is hitting his stride and having already moved well past the lone loss of his career a year ago and recapturing the form which network executives fell in love with in the first place.
An all-action fighter since turning pro in 2005, Angulo has been turning heads – both figuratively and literally – since his first televised appearance just 10 fights into his pro career.
It was on the Shobox circuit in which a friendly rivalry began with fellow junior middleweight prospect and then-promotional stablemate James Kirkland. Both fighters were undefeated knockout artists and put in the uncomfortable position of trying to outdo one another as they were often matched on the same cards.
That problem went away first when Kirkland switched promoters, and then was sent away after violating the terms of his parole. Angulo was given the perfect opportunity to surge ahead, but instead fell short against Cintron as was forced to rebuild.
The setbacks, coupled with Williams spending more time at middleweight than junior middle and Martinez struggling to secure opposition of any kind, suddenly left the division without leadership, potential star power or even momentum of any kind.
Existing in the next several weeks is the potential for a major revival. Along with Angulo’s HBO appearance this weekend, there is the May 8 showdown between Williams and Cintron; the stateside debut of Sergiy Dzinziruk once week later; and Miguel Cotto moving up in weight to challenge undefeated junior middleweight titlist Yuri Foreman in early June.
A win for Angulo this weekend presents the strong likelihood for a title shot in his very next bout. The full version of the interim title he presently owns is occupied by Dzinziruk, who recently signed with Gary Shaw as a co-promoter. Shaw not only also promotes Angulo, but considers him an extended member of his family, and has given him every assurance that he would be placed in a position to run the junior middleweight division.
Angulo has held up his end of the bargain, riding a two-fight knockout streak and the odds on favorite to make it three straight after this weekend’s match with Julio.
Once upon a time, the Colombian was in the same position as his opponent – one fight away from confirming his star status before running into a Puerto Rican spoiler in an HBO-televised bout. Julio dropped a convincing decision to Carlos Quintana, but unlike Angulo was truly able to pick up the pieces.
Sure, a win streak followed, but none of the victories suggesting the same promise and insane amount of hype that followed his career when he was undefeated. Back-to-back losses to Dzinziruk (UD12 in November 2008) and Kirkland (TKO6 last March) sent his career in disarray, though he was afforded a layup in his last ring appearance six months ago to at least give him a win heading into this weekend’s match.
If all goes according to script, then it will – or at least should – be the last time we hear Julio’s name on the contender level. And if those same odds holds true, then chances are that Angulo will win the only way he knows how – in violent and exciting fashion.
Such methods of victory go a long way towards keeping your name in demand and your face on television. It will also going a long way towards restoring interest in the road map that is presently the junior middleweight division.
Jake Donovan is the Managing Editor of Boxingscene.com and an award-winning member of the Boxing Writers Association of America. Contact Jake at JakeNDaBox@gmail.com .
