Ringside Boxing Report: Angulo Takes Gutierrez in a War

In a war of wills and attrition, after being hurt considerably by a left hook in round five, Alfredo “Perro” Angulo weathered the storm and came back to stop Richard Gutierrez at 2:48 of the very same round to capture the vacant WBO Inter-Continental Light Middleweight Title. The bout was the second televised event of an excellent fight card put together by Gary Shaw Productions and HBO in Primm, NV on Saturday night.

The two exceptionally tough light middleweights wasted no time in the opening round, standing toe to toe and digging hard shots up and down on each other’s head and torso. Colombia’s Gutierrez showed a better defense early on, landing the more telling blows to seemingly take an action packed round one that left the crowd cheering.

Gutierrez also showed surprising strength early on, backing Angulo into the ropes from time to time. Angulo, who fought in the Olympics for Mexico, was calm and collected in only his 13th professional fight 13-0 (10) against his toughest and most experienced opponent to date in Gutierrez 24-2 (14). The 29 year old Gutierrez had taken world class fighter, Joshua Clottey to the limit almost two years ago in a close majority decision loss.

Angulo made some adjustments, being a bit more elusive, switching to a southpaw stance, and attacking the body ferociously, producing some wild exchanges in the second and third rounds. The hard punching Angulo noticeably hurt Gutierrez towards the end of round three, forcing Gutierrez to box more off the back foot for a while.

The fourth round was clearly Angulo’s best as he started to take the fight over, winning most of the wild exchanges and showing some movement and underrated boxing skills, developed by sparring the past couple years with some of the best opponents that the Southern California gym scene has to offer.

Angulo continued his momentum into the fifth round, until getting rocked with a perfect Gutierrez left hook, which sent him stumbling backward. Gutierrez went after his hurt prey perhaps too aggressively, wildly winging punches that Angulo mostly avoided. The strong chinned Mexicali native showed good recuperative powers and was calm under pressure as he held on and tied Gutierrez up to further thwart his attack.

Showing heart, determination, and vocally supported by his dedicated fans in the crowd, “Perro” started firing back with punches, stunning Gutierrez with a right hand, sending “La-Lamina” back to the ropes. Angulo took his time and followed up landing numerous punches as Gutierrez showed a great chin of his own to weather an assault that seemed to go on forever.

Gutierrez spun away from the ropes, but Angulo wasn’t going to let him off the hook and kept tagging his opponent with punches in the middle of the ring. Gutierrez refused to go down, but was essentially out on his feet, forcing referee Tony Weeks to halt the bout at 2:48 of the fifth round.

Kirkland Destroys Albert in One

In the evening’s opening televised bout, Texas bad boy James Kirkland kept his undefeated record 22-0 (19) and fiery reputation intact with a first round knockout of normally durable Nigerian, Ermosele Albert. Southpaw Kirkland attacked relentlessly from the start and never allowed Albert 21-2 (10) into the fight.

Kirkland kept Albert going backwards, applying educated two fisted pressure while bobbing and weaving, until a hard left hand deposited Albert to the canvas. Albert beat referee Joe Cortez’s ten count and although clearly hurt, he was allowed to continue. It only took a follow up barrage of punches from Kirkland to send Albert to the canvas again for the TKO at 1:06 of the first round.

Kirkland captured the vacant WBO NABO Light Middleweight Title and got the emphatic HBO televised victory he was looking for but he expressed his frustrations before the fight, that he shouldn’t be the opening act but perhaps starring in the main event. Kirkland’s fighting style is must see TV, and having taken all of four rounds to finish his last 3 opponents with a combined record of 55-8, Kirkland has put himself in contention for a world title shot.