By Rick Reeno
MGM Grand, Las Vegas - After suffering back to back defeats at junior middleweight, Alfredo Angulo (22-5, 18KOs) moved up to middleweight division [catch-weight of 162] and lost yet again, by way of unanimous decision to heavy underdog James De La Rosa (23-2, 13KOs). The scores were 98-90, 96-92 and 99-89.
Angulo started slow and allowed De La Rosa to snag the first round. De La Rosa continued to box smart in the second and scored a knockdown at the end with a double lefthook. Angulo continue to come forward in the following rounds and had no problem eating punches to land a few of his own. During the sixth, De La Rosa started unloading with shots on Angulo and opened up a cut around his right eye. During the seventh, Angulo lost a point after being repeatedly warned for landing low blows.
De La Rosa continued to land at will in the eight and Angulo's face was a swollen mess. Angulo finally had De La Rosa in serious trouble at the end of the ninth, putting his combinations together and letting his hands go but couldn't finish him off before the bell. Angulo was going for the finish in the tenth and final round and De La Rosa was doing his best to survive. Angulo was landing very good punches but once again he couldn't finish him.