Fight PredictionSaul Alvarez v Alfredo Angulo
MGM Grand Garden Arena, Las Vegas, NV
Sat, March 8, 2014 at 9 PM ET
12 rounds, Showtime Pay Per View
PREDICTION: Alvarez early knockout / stoppage
Saul ‘Canelo’ Alvarez’s last two opponents were Floyd Mayweather and Austin Trout. Styles make fights and those two fighters have preccisely the styles to make Alvarez look bad. That is, they are fighters who move well on their feet and do not put a lot of pressure on, rather choosing to box from a distance and pick their spots to attack and quickly retreat.Alfredo Angulo is the complete opposite. He is flat footed and likes to fight in close which is perfect for Canelo’s counter punching style. Angulo has been hand picked as Canelo’s next opponent to enable him to win back his reputation as a vicious and feared knockout artist.
Angulo has fought Jorge Silva and Erislandy Lara in his last two outings. While both were undersized opponents, he was still hurt early by Jorge and had to quit against Lara due to a battering that caused a serious eye injury. His claim to fame is dropping Lara two times on his way to being outboxed in an exciting loss. This has led him to a big payday vs Canelo and he will have to earn it. Unlike his previous two opponents, Canelo is powerful and is not suceptable to being pressured.
The following video shows a blueprint of how to beat Angulo. All clips were taken from only the first round of the respective fights. No more evidence is needed. It involves what is a fairly simple task of countering Angulo’s jab. Just watch as Angulo throws out very slow lazy jabs and is repeatelty countered on them by his opponents right hand:
Angulo's terrible jab demonstrated in the video above combined with very slow feet plays perfectly into Canelo’s hands. His bread and butter is countering with combinations after slipping his opponent’s jab. He has amazing anticipation and times his counter perfectly with precision and power often mixing up his punches. Watch the following video where he constanly counter punches with a vicious accurate combination everytime his opponent throws a jab. Finally in the last clip he lands a devastating blow on Austin Trout over Trout's lazy jab.:
Angulo has a slow jab and poor footwork - a dream opponent for an adept counter puncher
Angulo's terrible jab demonstrated in the video above combined with very slow feet plays perfectly into Canelo’s hands. His bread and butter is countering with combinations after slipping his opponent’s jab. He has amazing anticipation and times his counter perfectly with precision and power often mixing up his punches. Watch the following video where he constanly counter punches with a vicious accurate combination everytime his opponent throws a jab. Finally in the last clip he lands a devastating blow on Austin Trout over Trout's lazy jab.:
Canelo has amazing reflexes and hand speed. What is amazing about the last clip where he drops Trout, is that he starts his jab AFTER he sees Trout throwing his and lands it BEFORE him. He then slips Trout's late jab while landing with a vicious straight right himself. Against Canelo it is very important to snap the jab out quickly and then step back to avoid the counter punches. This is why he will be even more devastating against Angulo, who has a slow jab and has trouble stepping backwards. Against Canelo's counters he can only stand his ground cover up and take the subsequent beating through what is a poor guard.
Canelo is a great counter puncher who eats weak jabs for breakfast
One thing Angulo does well is cut off the ring. He does this by positioning himself over his opponents right shoulder blocking his exit from that side. This forces him to move left into range of Angulo's powerful right hand cross. This will not be effective against Canelo as he does not normally circle the ring. Instead he stands his ground and uses his immense power to back his pressuring opponent off. However Canelo does get fatigued easily, causing his workrate to drop. This might be Angulo's one chance to land that right hand.
Canelo has excellent head movement and sees punches well. Not only does this mean he can defend effectively, but he also attacks brilliantly off these subtle slips, countering with devastating power and accuracy. Watch for him to attack Angulo's weak jab constantly with these counters as shown in the videos above. This match will be a masterclass in boxing from Canelo and he will score an early dominating knockout.
Watch a behind the scenes look at the buildup to this fight: All Access Ep .1
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