Angulo Thrills Again on ‘ShoBox’, Stops Cortes in One By Doug Fischer (Feb 2, 2008) Photo © German Villasenor Send this page to friend Give us your feedback Junior middleweight prospect Alfred Angulo improved to 12-0 (9) with a first-round stoppage of Ricardo Cortes in the main event of a Showtime-televised card from Hinckley, Minnesota Friday night. Angulo, a 25-year-old native of Mexicali, Mexico who represented his country in the 2004 Olympics, dropped Cortes twice with short right crosses before the Mexico-born San Jose resident was counted out by referee Mark Nelson at 2:58 of the opening round. The record of Cortes, who protested the stoppage despite taking a knee for Nelson’s full “10 count”, fell to 22-2-1 (15). It was Angulo’s third consecutive appearance on Showtime’s “ShoBox: The New Generation” series, which spotlights promising young fighters in step-up fights, and the kind of definitive statement that moves an unbeaten prospect closer to contender status. Angulo, an aggressive pressure fighter who overwhelmed then-undefeated Emmanuel Gonzalez in two rounds and then blasted hard-punching Archak TerMeliksetian in one round in his first two ShoBox appearances late last year, wasted no time in getting the fight started with Cortes, who at 6-feet stood a full head taller than his antagonist. Cortes, who fought most of his career at super middleweight before dropping down to middleweight and then testing the waters at junior middleweight against Angulo, tried to use his greater height and reach in the opening minute of the fight by boxing behind his jab and occasional right hands. However, the ever-advancing Angulo was able to work his way in close with his own jab where he opened Cortes up with hard combinations to the body before firing a short right that produced the first knockdown midway through the round. Cortes, who went down hard, was clearly hurt but he made it to his feet and tried to give himself time to recuperate by utilizing lateral movement. However, Angulo, whose nickname is “Perro” (Spanish for “dog”), smelled blood and was on the hunt, quickly closing the distance once again and attacking the long narrow torso of Cortes to open up another opportunity to drop the right hand. It didn’t take long for that opportunity to come. The second knockdown deposited Cortes near a neutral corner where he got up and walked to before taking a knee to hear out Nelson’s count. Nelson stood directly in front of Cortes while yelling the count, even holding up his fingers to illustrate the number of the count, but the 28-year-old boxer popped up to his feet only after the veteran referee reached the number “10”. Cortes complained to Nelson, but to most observers it appeared that he knowingly took a “10-and-a-half” count. Those same observers would agree that Angulo has become must-see TV for hardcore fight fans and that the Coachella, California-based brawler is a welcome addition to the new generation of aggressive, power-punching 154-pound prospects such as his fellow ShoBox staple James Kirkland and Joel Julio. Angulo’s team say that he’s ready to fight anyone in the 154-pound division, but ShoBox’s astute on-air analyst Steve Farhood correctly stated that the young fighter needs to go more rounds in order to continue to develop his boxing skills before he takes on the top junior middleweights of the world. Farhood suggested aggressive New York-based Russian Andrey Tsurkan, Detroit’s quick-fisted Cornelius Bundrage, and veteran Alex Bunema, who is coming off an upset stoppage of former titlist Roman Karmazin, as future opponents for Angulo. All would make for interesting if not entertaining fights with the Mexican (as if Angulo were capable of being in a boring match). Undefeated junior lightweight prospect Mickey Bey is a talented athlete with good speed and power, and solid technique, but he is capable of being in a boring match, at least when he’s sharing the ring with a cautious southpaw counter-puncher like Roberto Acevedo, who took the eight-round ShoBox co-feature on two days notice after two of Bey’s original opponents pulled out of the fight. Bey, a 24-year-old boxer from Cleveland who was on the 2004 U.S. Olympic team, improved to 10-0 (6) with a unanimous decision over Acevedo, who was a late substitute for Cleotis Pendarivs (who was a substitute for Edgar Vargas). It was an awkward and uneventful bout that Bey won by scores of 80-72, 79-73 and 77-76. The rounds featured very little action but the few exchanges that did occur were initiated by Bey, who stalked Acevedo behind a jab and the threat of his powerful left hook. Acevedo, a well-schooled boxer from Puerto Rico who had a solid amateur background, was able to land clean straight lefts to Bey’s body and head occasionally but he never followed up with anything for fear of retribution. It wasn’t a terrible performance for Acevedo, who fell to 5-4-3 (1); it just wasn’t the kind of fight that most fans tune in to watch on TV. It wasn’t a bad performance for Bey either; the Cleveland native wasn’t prepared to fight a southpaw, especially one as careful and defensive as Acevedo. Discuss this Topic - Go to the forums For Questions or Comments E-Mail Doug Fischer at dougie@maxboxing.com