Saul ‘Canelo’ Alvarez and Alfredo Angulo a done deal for March 8 at MGM Grand

Golden Boy Promotions has told BoxingScene.com, ESPN.com and other publications that a deal has been reach for former junior middleweight champion Saul “Canelo” Alvarez of Mexico to take on countryman Alfredo Angulo on March 8 at MGM Grand in Las Vegas (on Showtime pay-per-view).

This fight figures to be hard-hitting and likely won’t go the distance. Angulo, 31, is 22-3 with 18 knockouts. He most recently was stopped in the 10th round of a close fight by Erislandy Lara in June at Home Depot Center; Angulo decked Lara twice.

Alvarez (42-1-1, 30 KOs) is just 23. He lost a majority decision to Floyd Mayweather Jr. in his most recent fight in September at MGM Grand.,

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Marcos Maidana-Josesito Lopez to be replayed tonight on Showtime Extreme

The hard-hitting welterweight bout between Marcos Maidana of Argentina and Josesito Lopez of Riverside won by Maidana via 6th-round TKO at Home Depot Center this past Saturday will be replayed tonight at 7 (10 p.m. on the East Coast) on Showtime Extreme.

A record sellout crowd of 8,629 took in the event that was televised live by Showtime.

Also on tonight’s replay will be the junior middleweight semi-main event between Erislandy Lara of Cuba of Alfredo Angulo of Mexico. That ended in the 10th round when Angulo appeared to suffer a broken left orbital bone as the area ballooned to grotesque proportions. Moments after taking a hard punch to the eye from Lara, Angulo turned his back and the referee stopped the fight, Lara getting a TKO.

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Erislandy Lara of Cuba is not about to apologize for his style in the ring

Alfredo Angulo has tried to get under the skin of Erislandy Lara, his opponent Saturday at Home Depot Center, by insinuating that like many Cubans, Lara still has an amateur style that is not all that pleasing to fans.

“No, I’m a technical fighter,” said Lara, who defected from Cuba in 2008 after a failed attempt in 2007. “I’m a technical fighter and he’s a brawler, and we’ll see who has the longer career. But the Cuban fighters are the best technical fighters in the world.”

Lara, the 2005 amateur world champion at welterweight, is 17-1-2 with 11 knockouts. Angulo is 22-2 with 18 knockouts. Their junior middleweight fight will be televised by Showtime on the undercard of the welterweight main event between Marcos Maidana of Argentina and Josesito Lopez of Riverside.

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Alfredo Angulo says he’s starting to feel like his old self again

Junior middleweight contender Alfredo Angulo last year spent over seven months in the immigration detention center in El Centro because of ongoing visa issues; he presented himself to the center thinking he might only be there as long as a month.

It was a widely publicized story that brought Angulo (22-0, 18 KOs) plenty of warmheartedness from his fans. But the time for Angulo for bask in that is over. He is 2-0 with one knockout since coming back in November following a year out of the ring. He wants to get back to the business of getting a shot at a world title.

Angulo, of Los Angeles via Mexicali, will take on Erislandy Lara (17-1-2, 11 KOs) of Cuba on June 8 at Home Depot Center on the undercard of the Marcos Maidana-Josesito Lopez welterweight main event . Lara is a tough customer, but Angulo – a former interim champion –  believes the rust is gone.

“This is my third fight after my time off and conditioning-wise, I’m feeling like my old self, feeling like I used to feel,” said Angulo, 30. “There’s no doubt I’ll be in better condition than I was for my last two fights. There was just too much time off. Now I’m in a rhythm.”

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