Erislandy Lara v Alfredo Angulo

In a very exciting looking bout for the "interim" WBA Light Middleweight title the hard hitting Alfredo Angulo (22-2, 18) takes on Cuban skillster Erislandy Lara (17-1-2, 11). The bout, a true puncher v boxer bout could well end up being the fight of the night depending on how the styles clash.

Mexican Angulo, known as "El Perro" ("The Dog"), is one of the sport's must watch fighters with his hard punching and all action style. Technically he's limited but he's tough, very fun to watch and at his best he's a destructive freak of nature capable of hurting fighters with every punch in his arsenal.

To date Angulo's only losses have come to Kermit Cintron (via a decision) and James Kirkland (courtesy of a stoppage), though both have been "excused" by his fans. The loss to Cintron apparently occurred when Angulo was suffering from a cold whilst the loss to Kirkland happened when Angulo was having problems with his life.

Unfortunately several problems have hindered Angulo over the years, mainly issues regarding a visa whilst almost derailed his career together as he was kept out of the ring for more than a year following the loss to Kirkland (and he'd only fought once in the previous 12 months prior to that bout). With those issues sorted however Angulo looks to be back for good and will be looking to make up for lost time.

In Cuban fighter Erislandy Lara we have an incredibly well schooled southpaw, who, at his best can be either be destructive and take people out in a round (ask Ronald Hearns about that) or be a very skillful fighter dominating with his excellent technique.

Despite having 3 blotches on his record, Lara is widely considered to have been unlucky in 2 of those. A loss to Paul Williams in 2011 was widely considered to be one of the robberies of the year whilst a 9 round technical draw with Vanes Martirosyan was slated as it protected Martirosyan's unbeaten record. His actual "legitimate" blotch came in 2011 as he drew with Carlos Molina in a fight many felt Molina had deserved to win.

Going in to this bout the obvious prediction is that Lara will do what Cintron did to Angulo and box and move, make Angulo follow him whilst landing counters time and time again. This wouldn't be a shock. Lara is a much, much, much better boxer than Cintron. Though on the flip of that Lara has been jobbed in the past (the Martirosyan and Williams results) so he may decide to try to take it out of the judges hands. If Lara decides to take the fight to Angulo instead of relying on his boxing we may end up with a thriller.

If Lara decides to trade it's hard to see him winning, though if he's too negative he could throw rounds away. I actually think we'll see a lot from Lara who will mix things up whilst Angulo comes forward relentlessly looking to unleash his ferocious power. This will give the bout a very close feeling and make the decision an "on your edge" type of call.

Prediction-Lara UD12 (but close)