I made the drive to Commerce, California to spend some time with the holder of the Interim WBO Light Heavyweight Title, Alfredo “Perro” Angulo. Twice I had seen him fight in person and really enjoyed his no-nonsense and aggressive style. I decided I wanted to know more about this man. I had several people ask me about his nickname and where it came from, and felt that besides serious questions, there was no time like the present to find that out, as well as some other trivia.

“My nickname came from the Mexican Selections for the Olympic Team” he explained. (Angulo participated in the 2004 Summer Olympic Games for Mexico.) “This was because of the fact that I was not scared of anybody – Russians, Europeans, I was, and am, never scared. It is like in the dog fights; I go forward and never go back.”

In his latest fight against Joel Julio, which he won, a band of many musicians played him to the ring. They were all wearing “El Perro” T-shirts, and threw some out to the fans. “It was the first time I’ve used that band, whose name is Voz De Mando,” he told me. “It is a very popular band here for all the Mexicans, and we’re friends, so they did it as a favor. They had to cancel something just to come to my fight. I would like to use them again.”

And finally, the dog, which I did see in a cage in the back as I was on my way to get food – no surprise if you know me – from the press room. Of course, it did not register why it was there until I saw it dragging it’s handler towards the ring during Angulo’s entrance. I wondered if that was Angulo’s dog. “No, it belongs to the man who led it to the ring. (To me, it looked more like the dog led the man, but no matter!) I have one, but it is a miniature one, a small Pit Bull.”

His own dog will not be coming to the ring, but he made me laugh when he talked about the dog that was there. When I said it was big, he smiled and said, “Yes, big head!” which was exactly what I thought when I saw it.

It was time to get to the serious stuff. I wondered if Alfredo’s aggressive style left him open to getting hit more often. “I’m working on the defense,” he told me. “Honestly for this last fight, I knew I wasn’t good for the defense, but I took a long vacation for several months without doing anything – I was inactive – so I knew I had to pay the price. But,” he laughed, “If you would ask if I would take a vacation again, NO!”

About three months will have gone by before Angulo walks into the ring again, as his next fight is scheduled for July 17th. I wondered if that amount of time between fights is what makes him happy. “I always fight with Gary (promoter Gary Shaw) that I like to be active. If I could fight every month I wouldn’t have a problem. It’s a short career.”

It is indeed. But Alfredo’s might be able to go a bit longer, at least in the age department. He did not put on a pair of gloves until he was 17 years old – quite a bit older than most others in the sport. It began innocently.

“I used to live and work in San Diego, and when I got off work I didn’t have anything to do,” he explained. “At the same time I saw the second fight between Julio Cesar Chavez and Oscar De La Hoya. I knew who Chavez was, but honestly I didn’t follow boxing. But during that fight I noticed that he backed out, he didn’t want to come out and fight. I got teary-eyed, I didn’t really know why. When they showed the people in the audience they were all crying too, because Chavez didn’t want to fight anymore.”

Obviously, seeing Chavez quit had a huge impact in Angulo. “A friend had a gym so he told me to go train, and my brother-in-law told me to go also, and I did. I had my first amateur fight after only one month of training. Other fighters there had trained for three months and hadn’t had a fight yet, and me, in one month, I was in a fight.”

He had total of 95 amateur fights, with a record of 80-15. Thirty of those fights were in Mexico, and the rest were international.

The opponent for his next fight is the French-Canadian fighter, Joachim Alcine. I asked how much he knew about him. “Nothing,” he laughed. “I know he is from Canada. I’m not used to really asking about my opponents. It doesn’t matter. My trainers worry about that, not me. I worry about training.” He will watch an opponents’ tape one time only. “I only watch once but when I do, I pay a lot of attention. Then it stays in my head.

“I don’t think there is a big difference from one fight to another one. Everyone has their own style and you can’t change that. The only thing you can change and get better is your condition. If you don’t get tired, you’re not going to have any problem. I think the proof of that is in the last fight. I just worked round by round and really didn’t think I was going to knock him out. I was just patient.”

Alfredo also disagrees with some peoples’ assessment of him. “A lot of people say that I am a knockout person, but I don’t consider myself a knockout fighter. I just throw, and throw, and throw, and try to connect – try not to miss. And I don’t think I miss a lot!

“When people see my name on the fight card I guarantee that it will be a good fight and a good event. I never duck an opponent. I never ask my promoter about the opponent. I won’t say, ‘No, not that one because he has a lot of fights,’ it’s the other way around. I want a good fighter, that way I give a good performance for the people to watch. I think boxing has lost a lot of credibility. I would love to bring that back to boxing.”

Even when the other fighter has a record which doubles Alfredo’s, he pays no attention. He laughed when he said, “Two hands, one head, two legs; what’s the problem?”

Angulo also finds the issue of not making weight funny. “I have no problem making the weight. Actually, if I don’t eat, I don’t lose weight. Most other fighters stop eating, but that’s ignorance. If you don’t eat you don’t have the energy to work. How are you going to lose weight? You’re just working on what you reserved.”

I brought up the tribute that Angulo did in his last fight to remember Shaw’s father, who had recently passed away. He had an inscription in memory of Gary’s father on his trunks. It was a total surprise to Gary, and touched him deeply. But make no mistake; Alfredo did not do it to score points in anyone’s eyes.

“I did not do it just to look good to Gary or to other people; I just did it because it came from my heart. I told Gary I had a surprise, but he didn’t know what it was. The first time he saw it was when he came in the ring and I showed it to him. I know Gary has a lot of fighters, but I made a point to be at his dad’s funeral (even breaking training camp to do so), and I was the only one there. But like I said, it came from my heart, and I had to be there. I was raised without a dad from the time I was five, so I can’t imagine how you have one you’re whole life and then you lose him in one moment. Maybe I suffered a bit when I was small, but I got used to it. But to have it taken away – it’s harder.”

Alfredo explained his relationship with the press and the fans. “I always appreciate you (the press) taking your time to do an interview with me, and I never get tired of answering the questions. Even though I knows it’s your job to do an interview, not a lot of fighters give you guys the time to do the interview. Sometimes at a higher level they don’t want to do it. But without you guys people won’t know about them.”

Angulo believes that the more people who know about them, the more people will watch the fights. “There are World Champions, and nobody really knows anything about them. Someone might say, ‘Well, who’s that?’

“I like being questioned and having to answer,” he said, “and I try to answer as much as possible and in the correct way. I’m one of the fighters that can do an interview close to the fight when other fighters are all stressed out, and I’m always laughing. I don’t mind. It’s my job and I have to do it. A lot of fighters don’t feel like that, and they get stressed. Me, I enjoy it.”

You might have noticed the name ‘Rebeca’ on the waist band of Alfredo’s trunks. That name has a two-fold meaning for him. It is the name of both his mother and his daughter, and in the very small amount of free time Angulo has, he tries to spend it with his little girl, who is four years old. He only has her on the weekends, but, “even when I’m training, I have her here with me,” he said. “On my day off, Sunday, I try to take her somewhere, like Disneyland, or a water park.” And when he told me how old she was and I commented that she was just a baby, he proudly corrected me. “No baby. She’s very smart.”

He is quick to sing her praises, but not so his own. I just told you that he has his daughter on the weekends. What I need to add to that is the fact that on Friday he drives to Mexicali, Mexico to pick her up, and on Sunday he makes the drive again to take her home. As good a fighter as he is, he is every bit as good a person and a father. I am proud to consider him my friend.

A big thank you to Alfredo for your time, and special thanks to Tanya Cabrera.


This interview was originally written for www.LeaveitintheRing.com 


Be safe and God Bless,

Viva La Raza,

Barb