By Keith Idec

Alfredo Angulo lost his last fight to Erislandy Lara by technical knockout and has been stopped in two of his past four fights.

That doesn’t make him any less deserving, according to Richard Schaefer, of his March 8 pay-per-view fight against Saul “Canelo” Alvarez. Schaefer, Golden Boy Promotions’ chief executive officer, considers Angulo’s history of participating in exciting fights more important than the rugged Mexican’s win-loss record (22-3, 18 KOs).

“You don’t just get the opportunity, you earn the opportunity,” Schaefer said on a conference call to promote the Alvarez-Angulo fight. “And I think Alfredo has earned that in the way he fights. Boxing has really moved [in a direction], I think, particularly in the last couple of years or so, where excitement, win or lose, is being more rewarded. And fighters don’t really have to go back in the line if they lose in exciting fashion. And sometimes, an exciting loss these days is frankly more valuable than a boring win.”

The 31-year-old Angulo’s loss to Lara definitely offered its share of excitement. Angulo dropped Lara (19-1, 12 KOs) in the fourth and ninth rounds of their scheduled 12-round fight for the interim WBA 154-pound title, but he lost by 10th-round TKO after he chose not to continue once a punch Lara landed caused grotesque swelling around Angulo’s left eye. Angulo’s slugfest against James Kirkland (32-1, 28 KOs) in November 2011 also was one of the most entertaining fights of that year, but Kirkland also stopped Angulo in the sixth round.

Alvarez (42-1-1, 30 KOs), who’ll fight for the first time since Floyd Mayweather Jr. (45-0, 26 KOs) dominated him Sept. 14 in Las Vegas, is about a 9-1 favorite two weeks before their scheduled 12-rounder at MGM Grand in Las Vegas.

Angulo thinks Alvarez, 23, picked him as an opponent as much because Showtime will televise the fight via pay-per-view as much as anything.

“He’s a smart fighter,” Angulo said. “And he knows he wanted to prove to his fans that he wanted to fight a good fighter, a fighter that’s very strong and, most importantly, a fighter that makes exciting fights. I know that I’ve proven throughout my career that I always give exciting fights. I think that’s what we’re going to do, we’re going to make a good show and we’re going to put on an exciting fight.”

Keith Idec covers boxing for The Record and Herald News, of Woodland Park, N.J., and BoxingScene.com. He can be reached on Twitter @Idecboxing.