Dan Rafael's invaluable Notebook.
Dan Rafael: Alfredo Angulo will face former welterweight contender Danny Perez (34-5, 17 KO) on February 14. Perez was an early candidate to replace that chump Ricardo Mayorga, but it took a few days for promoter Gary Shaw and Perez's people to work something out. HBO was on board with Perez early in the replacement opponent talks. Perez retired from 2005 to 2008, but has won three in a row since returning to the ring.
You're not going to do much better than Perez on 8-10 days' notice, so I think Shaw and HBO deserve some credit for getting a decent opponent in for Angulo instead of just a bum. Either Perez or Daniel Edouard would have been fine, both will likely make the fight entertaining. The main event is now Nate Campbell's IBF/WBO lightweight title defense against Ali Funeka, and with Sergio Martinez-Kermit Cintron, this is still a must-see card.
Dan Rafael: The fight between Carl Froch and Jermain Taylor looks like it's good to go for April 18 or 25 on Showtime. According to Rafael, Froch and promoter Mick Hennessy came around on a Taylor fight in the States because they weren't finding the money they wanted to fight in England. HBO tentatively has the Juan Manuel Lopez-Gerry Penalosa card scheduled for April 25, but Ronnie Nathanielsz reports that Penalosa is still waiting for Lopez to sign the contract, and that the Penalosa camp doesn't believe Lopez will go through with the fight.
So there are two fights to talk about here. Froch-Taylor looks good, and now Lopez-Penalosa looks shaky, which isn't all that surprising when you consider the two fighters. Lopez has been talking big since before drilling Daniel Ponce de Leon in one, and Penalosa -- while a good, underappreciated fighter -- has long seemed to overvalue himself.
Dan Rafael: The Paul Williams-Winky Wright fight will take place at the Mandalay Bay in Las Vegas.
It's a fight that doesn't belong in Vegas and I think they'll have a lot of trouble moving tickets, but it's also a fight I think has trouble moving tickets just about anywhere outside of Wink's home base in Florida, and why would Paul want to fight there? Williams never built up any sort of hometown following and Wright has been inactive for so long that his reputation has dwindled, and all he ever had was his skill to get people talking to begin with. I'm very interested in seeing the fight, but it was never going to be a gate breaker.
Dan Rafael: Robert Guerrero will face Daud Yordan on the March 7 tripleheader from San Jose.
I don't think there's anything stopping Guerrero (23-1-1, 16 KO) from becoming the world's best 130-pound fighter. Yordan (23-0, 17 KO) is an Indonesian kid whose best win is against Antonio Meza. Golden Boy says they offered a fight with Guerrero to 2004 Olympian Vicente Escobedo, but Escobedo wasn't interested.
Dan Rafael: The March 28 Top Rank "Latin Fury" PPV will no longer be headlined by Julio Cesar Chavez Jr. taking on Carlos Nascimento. Nascimento pulled out. Undefeated Spaniard Luciano Cuello (23-0, 10 KO) is the likely replacement, and the 118-pound bout between Fernando Montiel and Eric Morel will be featured on the undercard.
Hey, whaddayaknow, Chavez taking the path of -- if not least -- less resistance.
Dan Rafael: Steve Cunningham and Wayne Brathwaite will likely fight an eliminator for the right to face the Adamek-Banks winner. Career genius B.J. Flores turned down a fight with Brathwaite.
Someone put this on American TV. ESPN? Versus? You listening?