Boxing Info: Juan Diaz – Fernando Angulo

ByBoxing Press

The co-featured main event on the Nov. 4 edition of SHOWTIME CHAMPIONSHIP BOXING will showcase World Boxing Association (WBA) Lightweight Champion Juan “Baby Bull” Diaz against Ecuadorian challenger Fernando “La Fiera” Angulo from Chase Field in Phoenix, Ariz.

This bout and the world heavyweight championship main event featuring World Boxing Organization titlist Sergei “White Wolf” Liakhovich vs. Shannon “The Cannon” Briggs is being promoted by Don King Productions and will air live on SHOWTIME CHAMPIONSHIP BOXING at 9 p.m. ET/PT (delayed on the west coast).

Tickets for the event—priced at $39, $54, $104, $204, $304 and $504—are on sale now at the Chase Field box office, Ticketmaster, ticketmaster.com, or can be charged by phone at (480) 784-4444.

Appearing for the first time since signing with King, the 23-year-old Diaz (30-0, 15 KOs) became the youngest current world champion at age 20 by scoring a unanimous decision to dethrone Lakva Sim in front of a hometown crowd in Houston on July 17, 2004. The relentless-punching phenom’s story becomes even more incredible when one learns that he is a junior pre-law major at the University of Houston-Downtown, who hopes to help the less fortunate with legal matters at the conclusion of his boxing career.

Standing in the way of the student-boxer’s seventh successful title defense is Angulo (18-3, 12 KOs), a man who had little, if any, of the opportunities afforded the poorest of Americans when he grew up in the jungles of the Ecuadorian Amazon rainforest after he fled from abusive parents at age 7. At 11, he lived alone in the jungle for 18 months, fending for himself by hunting. When the hunt went poorly, he would subsist on bugs, worms, snakes or anything he could find. The only thing he wouldn’t eat were frogs as he doesn’t like them.

In another unusual twist, Angulo is managed by Javier Zapata, who also manages Carlos Baldomir, the 16-to-1 underdog that shocked Zab “Super” Judah with a unanimous decision win before knocking out Arturo “Thunder” Gatti. Angulo and Baldomir come from similar backgrounds.

“Both these fighters come from the type of poverty where they are used to fighting for their lives,” Zapata said. “The only difference between Baldomir and Angulo is that one grew up in the streets and the other one had to survive in the jungle.”

Zapata pointed out another shared trait between Baldomir and Angulo. Both boxers suffered defeats early in their careers prior to working with more skilled trainers. Angulo lost his first, sixth and seventh fights, but he has won 13 straight since joining Venezuelan trainers Fernando Montanez and Ramon Cotua.

SHOWTIME CHAMPIONSHIP BOXING’s Steve Albert and Al Bernstein will call the action from ringside with Jim Gray serving as roving reporter. The executive producer of the SHOWTIME telecast will be David Dinkins Jr. with Bob Dunphy directing.

For information on SHOWTIME CHAMPIONSHIP BOXING and “ShoBox: The New Generation” telecasts, including complete fighter bios and records, related stories and more, please go the SHOWTIME website at http://www.sho.com/boxing.