ALFREDO ANGULO vs HARRY JOE YORGEY

Beaten by Kermit Cintron in an upset six months ago, Alfredo Angulo finds himself in a world title bout on Saturday. He meets the unbeaten Harry Joe Yorgey for the vacant WBO interim junior middle title on the HBO show from Hartford that features the rematch between Chad Dawson and Glen Johnson.

There are now so many titles and so many champions that no one can keep track any more. Angulo is a worthy contender, though. His camp contends that he was unwell before the fight with Cintron, and while giving Cintron credit for boxing a smart, sharp fight, it did seem to me that Angulo looked a bit lacklustre that night. If Angulo can win in explosive style on Saturday, the Cintron fight will be one of those fading memories.

Yorgey comes into this fight as the underdog, but as ever we can’t be certain how good an unbeaten boxer is until he loses. In his last fight, Yorgey pulled off one of the year’s big surprises when he came back from an off-balance knockdown to flatten the undefeated Ronald Hearns in the ninth round. He is on home ground in Connecticut for Saturday’s fight.

Angulo is the more powerful fighter but Yorgey has good movement and boxing ability. Held to a draw by journeyman Martinus Clay three years ago, Yorgey showed improvement by winning a rematch fairly comfortably.

Yorgey hasn’t been active lately, with just two fights in two years, but he scored his biggest wins in these bouts, both over boxers who had undefeated records. First, Yorgey soundly outboxed game Jason LeHoullier (one judge amazingly scored the fight a draw but Yorgey was the clear winner) and then he ended Hearns’s unbeaten run.

The Yorgey-LeHoullier fight looked competitive on paper, but Yorgey almost outclassed his opponent. I noted that Yorgey showed a stylish jab, a right uppercut and a variety of punches. “Y. seems to have taken his boxing to another level,” I recorded in my notebook.

Yorgey dropped Hearns three times but was down once himself although it was a flash flooring. I was amazed that Hearns was able to get up from a face-down knockdown when Yorgey caught him with a big right hand in the fifth round, but at this point the fight was effectively over. Hearns, supposedly the puncher in the fight, was being backed up and he looked shaky, with his famous dad Thomas Hearns anxiously signalling to him from ringside to move and jab. “Hearns made Yorgey look like the second coming of Tony Zale,” boxing agent Rick Glaser quipped in a phone conversation after the fight. I’m not sure Yorgey should be mentioned in the same breath as the great Man of Steel — not even in jest — but he did look very good indeed against Hearns.

Unfortunately for Yorgey, he meets a formidable and relentless fighter on Saturday.

LeHoullier was slow and hittable, and Hearns was not able to take a punch too well. Angulo, though, is a world-class fighter. He isn’t as quick on his feet as Yorgey, but Angulo is usually efficient at closing the distance between himself and his opponents and he punches hard and fast when he is in full flow.

When Angulo came into the ring for his last fight, against the useful Gabriel Rosado, he looked determined to show that his performance against Cintron was not a true reflection of his ability. I think that Angulo badly wanted to knock someone out that night, and Rosado was unlucky enough to be on the receiving end of a ferocious onslaught.

Yorgey, 31, is an improved boxer who always seems to exude confidence, but he has never been in the ring with anyone like Angulo. I do feel that Yorgey can box, move and do well — but not for very many rounds. Angulo looks like being much too strong for him. I don’t think that Yorgey can keep Angulo at bay for the full distance, and I’m expecting Mexico’s “El Perro” to catch up with a brave but outgunned opponent any time after the start of round seven.