By Miguel Rivera
Junior middleweight contender Alfredo Angulo blew off the allegations that are being made by certain fans, who believe the tough boxer took a dive in his recent fight with former WBC/WBA junior middleweight champion Saul "Canelo" Alvarez at the MGM Grand in Las Vegas.
Against Canelo, Angulo did not possess the same drive, the same power or the same high punch output - that many fans saw in Angulo's gutsy loss against Erislandy Lara last June. He took a beating from start to finish, until referee Tony Weeks stopped the match in the tenth round.
After the loss, rumors began to circulate in Mexico that Angulo took $100,000 to throw the fight. Angulo received the money after Canelo was unable to make the 154-pound limit and requested a one-pound increase to 155.
"To all of the people who think that I was paid off - I've told you before that 'Perro' is not for sale. We started a little different [than we usually do]. We started slow and planned to increase in the end, but we never reached that point. Unfortunately I wanted to close hard in the later rounds and we already know that Canelo is always tired [at the end], but unfortunately what happened happened...controversy. I don't have to bow my head. I was doing my job and people know that the fight be changed with a single blow," Angulo said to Erazno and Chokolata.
"I struggled to catch my rhythm in the first six rounds, but when I started to get into a rhythm, I began to throw more combinations and connected much more on Canelo, and that's when I think [Weeks] made the decision to stop the fight because we had already begun to get in the fight. Even in the previous round, Canelo was going to the ropes with his hands down because he was tired."