This Saturday night, Timothy Bradley makes his HBO and welterweight debuts, and Alfredo Angulo returns to action as well. Let's look at both fights.
Welterweights, 12 Rounds
Timothy Bradley v. Luis Carlos Abregu
Bradley (25-0, 11 KO) is regarded by just about everyone on the planet as the No. 1 fighter in the hot 140-pound division, but without a marquee fight to take in his own weight class, he moves up to meet fellow Gary Shaw Productions fighter Luis Carlos Abregu (29-0, 23 KO) at 147 pounds.
I won't beat around the bush about who I think will win this fight. I simply believe Timothy Bradley is too good for Abregu, with way too much overall talent, and that he'll win a decision on Saturday.
But those who might view this as an easy fight are missing a possible wrinkle here. Bradley is a terrific young fighter with all the ability, outside of a huge punch, that one can really hope to have. He's quick, he's smart, and he's tenacious. He's been down and gotten up. He's met adversity and then outboxed its ass against Kendall Holt. And last time out against Lamont Peterson he was ferocious.
Abregu is pretty basic. He's got power, but he's still raw. That power, though, is very real, and he's going to have a pretty big size advantage. At 5'10", he'll tower over the 5'6" Bradley, and he'll have a three-inch reach advantage, too. I don't think it's enough to pull off the upset, but I do have that little itch that says this is a very, very dangerous fight for Tim Bradley, and yet again Bradley shows his willingness to not just feed on a stay-busy guy. Bradley could well sweep the cards in this one, but he has to be constantly aware of Abregu's big right hand. Bradley UD-12
Junior Middleweights, 12 Rounds
Alfredo Angulo v. Joachim Alcine
Alcine is 34 years old and has fought just twice since he lost his title and unbeaten record to Daniel Santos by KO-6 in July 2008. He won that belt in a dreadful Showtime main event against Tarvis Simms in 2007.
After losing to Kermit Cintron last year, Angulo shredded Gabe Rosado and Harry Joe Yorgey (inarguably the nastiest beating of 2009 on a major stage), and earlier this year pounded out a good win over Joel Julio. If Alcine boxes and moves and stays out of Angulo's wheelhouse, he can give him some trouble. But Alcine sometimes seems to lose his focus and has always seemed to lack either motivation or direction to me. That might just be me, but because of that I see Angulo eventually bringing down the thunder in a major way. Angulo TKO-7