His is among the more fascinating life stories (and careers) in the sport. "Who is that?", you ask? Angulo is the guy that This content is protected , scuppering the Matthysse vs. Cano plans. He is currently rated #8 in the WBC @ 140lbs. These are just some of the names ranked below him: Félix Díaz, Hank Lundy, Pablo Cano, Antonio Orozco, Roberto Ortiz, Emmanuel Taylor, Michele Di Rocco, Karim Mayfield, Ik Yang, Anthony Yigit, Selcuk Aydin. The only names above him are: Viktor Postol (Garcia's mandatory, until Garcia officially vacates to move up in weight) Lucas Matthysse Adrien Broner Ruslan Provodnikov Amir Imam Luca Giacon Humberto Soto He probably loses to all seven, but he could potentially give at least 3-4 of them a hard night's work. There's nobody ranked below him that I would favor over him too strongly, even though some 'name' commodities are in the mix there. Seriously. Now, speaking of seriousness, lest you think his ring moniker sounds a bit silly - there is nothing whatsoever precious or tongue-in-cheek about his being called the Wild Beast. He last saw his father while a toddler, and ran away from home at 7 years old to live in the jungles of Ecuador. Off and on, into his teens. Not with a grown-up accompanying. By himself. Not with any prior experience camping, hunting, or anything. He survived, for much of his childhood, independently, half-feral, without any of civilization's trappings. You know the game Metal Gear Solid III: Snake Eater? Yeah, this guy actually did that. While you were climbing halfway up trees in your backyard, he was posting up in the high branches to get the drop on whatever he could ambush so he could eat. He also picked up day laborer gigs wherever he could, riding in the beds of trucks and whacking at crops with a machete on plantations all over the Ecuadorian countryside. He made his pro debut just three days after his nineteenth birthday, and three weeks before the change of the millennium. It was a UD6 loss. He rallied and went on a 5-0 (2) run, including a knockout of the 7-0 (3) Lino Perez Jr. It would be this same Perez Jr. who dealt Angulo his next loss, in a rematch, in a 12-rounder for the WBA Fedebol (regional sanctioning body, encompassing the northern half of South America, minus Brazil) light welterweight title in Angulo's seventh professional bout and Perez's tenth. He dropped all the way down to super featherweight in his very next bout just five months later and was stopped for the first time. He rallied once more on a 13-0 (10) run, slicing through all the regional opposition at lightweight and picking up a couple of WBA South American trinkets. His best victory to date came in this span, as he stopped Ammeth "Cloroformo" Diaz, the explosive Panamanian. Then came his chance at the big time, challenging Juan "Baby-Bull" Diaz in the co-feature to Liakhovich vs. Briggs on Showtime. This was an incredibly close bout (ignore the scorecards), and La Fiera gave Torito probably his toughest WBA 135lb title defense and, you could argue, his toughest night period until running afoul of Nate Campbell and surrendering both his title & cherry. Another rally. His first comeback match after the Diaz loss was an ESPN2 co-feature, upsetting 11-0 (9) Patrick Lopez. That is, the same Lopez that later TKOed Prenice Brewer and gave Hank Lundy and Josesito Lopez hell. A few more W's, then a few L's (including dropped a UD7 - yes, 7, that's how they roll in Panama - to Ammeth Diaz in a crazy rematch where both tasted canvas a bunch of times yet neither stayed down - and getting robbed blind against Leo Zappavigna, around the same time Diaz & Zappavigna entered into a crazy triangle rivalry with Ji Hoon Kim, with Zappa KO1ing the Korean, who in turn KO1ed Diaz, who then battered Zappa :nut). Then a binary pattern of W-L-W-L, with his most recent defeat being a UD9 in Peru (again, just how they roll) to 15-0 Jonathan Maicelo. In three years since then, Angulo is on a 5-0 (1) streak which saw him move up to welterweight and collect two of his best W's in Bonanni (rugged, big welter, proven on the competitive Argie domestic scene, now campaigning at 154lb) and Cano. Now, obviously his landing a date with Matthysse for beating Cano (the way Josesito Lopez "stole" Victor Ortiz's date with Canelo Alvarez by defeating him) was a pipe dream. Matthysse is a budding GBP star with Al Haymon as his adviser. Even for his return bout after the Danny Garcia loss he was looking for a higher profile (but not better, necessarily) opponent than Angulo - namely, John Molina Jr. Still, you would think upsetting Cano would have raked in some opportunities for the now 34-year-old former wild child. If stopping a heavily favored, much younger, top-10 ranked foe in his backyard doesn't earn you anything, what's the point?? Angulo has fought twice since then, both times at home in Ecuador, both times outpointing C+ level opposition with no positive or negative effect on his ranking. He's due for something to happen, so he can strike while the iron of beating Cano is hot since at his age this is probably his last rally and final surge of real momentum, yet doesn't even have anything lined up with a third of the calendar torn away for 2015, and having not fought since November. :blood
If he can notch a victory over anyone in the WBC top 15, he will make a credible opponent for Matthysse or Broner on a PBC card (especially since his #8 ranking will help nudge either of them higher up toward a crack at the soon-to-be-vacant green belt) and he always makes for good TV, no matter what. His style is entertaining, as is his frequently restyled hair - which, against Diaz, was fashioned into a square row of short bleached-blonde spikes - like Bart Simpson. I think he would get blown out by either but it would be fun while it lasted and he deserves the cash-out.
You mentioned Metal Gear but when I think of fight of what's said about his hair, a beast, the jungle, and fighting, I get to picturing Baraka from Street Fighter. I hope he's not into biting people..
Damn Itc I was planning on doing a thread him. I still am.:bart You should post his Zappavigna and Maicelo matches.
That's Blanka, actually. :yep Baraka was in Mortal Kombat. :good Also weird looking. Blades embedded in his arms. Glowing orange eyes. Huge dagger like teeth.
Angulo vs. Zappavigna :-( http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CMpJs-L7-Hg Angulo vs. Bonanni http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4UhMqIPUgdk Angulo vs. Maicelo http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tuszEbstEPU Angulo vs. López http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FK6qgGHj4t4 http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZmK10lz5ph0 Angulo vs. Cano (only highlights - unfortunately the full vid has been made private :huh) http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MWyGh-5CbIY
Highlights of his penultimate bout from 6:55: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VocaHBEgP_s I can't find any footage of his last one; pretty sure it wasn't televised.
For his age, Fiera is looking strong. All thickly corded muscle, no flab. Like the jaguars he probably wrestled in his youth.
