"Yeah, it's a great fight for Alfredo. It's a fight that he definitely can win...I'd like to see if Canelo can keep Alfredo off of him...He's going to have prove that he can take a punch from a big jr. middleweight. He's going to have to prove that he can gut it because Alfredo can and he's motivated for this fight. He's already training, so if the fight comes about, we're ready," stated world-class trainer Virgil Hunter, who gave us an update on jr. middleweight contender Alfredo Angulo and a potential March showdown with former jr. middleweight champion Saul "Canelo" Alvarez. Check it out!
BT: Give me an update on Alfredo Angulo. I know his name is in the mix to face Canelo in March. I'm sure you like that fight.
VH: Yeah, it's a great fight for Alfredo. It's a fight that he definitely can win. Again, he was written off. Before he even came back, he was written off. His first two fights coming back, it didn't change the public's opinion, but after the Lara fight, it did. You know, a lot of people, again, they want to point to the toughness of that fight, but let's face it, he gave Lara the toughest fight he ever had in his career and that fight was up for grabs. To give you an idea, look how Lara handled Trout quite easily, and Trout gave Canelo a tough fight. So if somebody can do that to Lara, what Alfredo Angulo did to him, he's in the mix for Canelo. And I'd like to see if Canelo can keep Alfredo off of him.
BT: I definitely think it'll be an interesting fight. Like you mentioned earlier, a lot of the guys Canelo has faced were welterweights, or even jr. welterweights, moving up in weight. The first time he faced a true 154-pounder in Austin Trout, he didn't look quite as impressive as he did in previous bouts.
VH: That was a very close fight and he had all the odds and the deck stacked in his favor. Against Alfredo Angulo, he's not going to have those luxuries he's had in fights before facing Floyd. If he tries to take a rest, he's going to have to work in this fight. He's going to have prove that he can take a punch from a big jr. middleweight. He's going to have to prove that he can gut it because Alfredo can and he's motivated for this fight. He's already training, so if the fight comes about, we're ready.
BT: Dang, you guys are already putting in work in case this fight comes about?
VH: Well, I mean, that's the wise thing to do. You know, I already answered [Chepo] Reynoso's little slight at Alfredo saying he was coming off of a loss; I just had to remind him, well, what did you just come off of? You know, you just came off a 12-round shutout. We came off a fight that we were easily...see, for reasons that I'll just keep to myself, if that one little episode hadn't have happened to the eye, we were gonna win that fight. We were gonna knock Lara out, plain and simple. He was losing, and he knows it. We were going to knock him out. And we're talking about a great fighter in Lara, so I mean, Reynoso should think twice because you got shutout. So I'd say it's pretty even going into this fight. Both men deserve the fight.
BT: I don't think Canelo has ever been in the type of dogfights that Angulo has been in. Will that be an advantage that you guys will have going into that fight?
VH: Well, we need to find out. We'll get into condition if everything comes through. From what I hear, there's a good chance that it could materialize. You don't want to get the go ahead and then go to work too late. It's better to go ahead and start preparing.
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