ALFREDO ANGULO vs JOACHIM ALCINE

Heavy handed and always exciting, Alfredo Angulo opens the show on HBO’s Boxing After Dark on Saturday night in a 12-round junior middle title eliminator against Joachim Alcine, the former champion from Montreal.
 
This is a fight that should see Angulo tested, but I also think that the 27-year-old Mexican banger has the chance to look really good.
 
Alcine, 34, is a capable boxer with good hand speed but he is not usually an elusive type. He will often stand his ground and trigger off combinations. If he does this against Angulo, the fans in the arena and TV viewers should be treated to a rousing fight.
 
Of course, Alcine could elect to use a moving, boxing style, the way that Joel Julio did — with initial success — when he fought Angulo last April. I think that a slick-boxing, use-the-ring type of fight is not a style that Alcine will feel comfortable in using, though. I feel that at some point he will be in front of Angelo and seeking to stop the Mexican fighter’s relentless forward march.  This is when Angulo will, I think, have the opportunity to land his thudding hooks and right hands.
 
Alcine looked good in his last fight when he easily outpointed Christophe Canclaux but he was meeting a veteran who, in hindsight, had probably peaked and even may have been starting to regress as a fighter (Canclaux lost by four-round stoppage in France five months after losing to Alcine).
 
It seems to me that Alcine has lost his way a little. He has boxed only four times since his upset victory over Travis Simms three years ago to become champion. In Alcine’s second defence of the title, Daniel Santos shockingly knocked out him out in the sixth round. It seemed to me that Alcine never got into the fight. He was slow and uncertain and nothing like the fighter who soundly defeated Simms.
 
Although the win over Canclaux was a good one, I have a feeling that it might have flattered Alcine a little. He was meeting a somewhat crude opponent who threw wide, slapping punches. I have my doubts whether Alcine will be able to stave off Angulo’s steady attack for very many rounds. Angulo is confident in his ability to hurt people and I think he will keep pressing forward in his usual steady manner, face expressionless, until he can unload his punches in the consistent way that will bring him victory. I’m expecting Angulo to overpower Alcine around about the eighth round.