Amir Imam Drops KO Bomb On Angulo; King Calls For Fight With Floyd

In the TV opener on Showtime, Amir Imam, one of Don King’s sole remaining boxers,  took on Fernando Angulo, who hunted panthers as a teen in Ecuador, in a super lightweight tangle from Texas. A one-two, a jab and then a right behind the ear, sent Angulo pitching face first in round four. The ref knew what he saw and halted it right away. The time came 56 seconds elapsed for the winner, whose rep has blossomed in the last year, bigtime.

He’s got the basics down and a craving for stoppages, good combo.

To Jim Gray after, Imam gave the loser props, said yes, he’s the next big thing at that weight, and dedicated the win to Jake LaMotta. His promoter King called for him to meet Floyd Mayweather next and Imam said why not, anything is possible. Imam called Danny Garcia a cherry picker, which provided some buzz during the next bout, as Garcia responded on Twitter, and thanks to Anderson Duren for cluing me in to that…

He could get the winner of the Viktor Postol-Lucas Matthysse fight, which goes to purse bid Monday.

Imam (17-0 entering)  lives in Florida, while FA (28-9 entering) lives in Venezuela; the WBC 140 pound minor crown was up for grabs.

In the first, the 24-year-old Imam jabbed low and high. They traded a good deal in a decent round. In the second, the 34-year-old Angulo looked to land heavy with lead lefts and lunging rights. Imam showed an A grade jab. It thudded and pierced..

In the third, Angulo stood in the pocket, and looked to push Imam to the ropes. Then they stood in center ring and Imam had to work inside and then with his back to the ropes. In the fourth, Imam shot a one two and it looked like Angulo was tased. He pitched forward face first and the ref waved it off.

McJoe Arroyo (16-0 entering; from Puerto Rico), the younger of a twins batch, took on Filipino Arthur Villanueva (27-0, US debut) in the second Showtime TV fight, with a junior bantam crown up for grabs.

The fight underperformed, as Arroyo was not inclined to throw and Villa wasn’t a demon of activity either. This was mostly a “lemme check my Twitter timeline” sort of bout. The judges woke themselves long enough to submit cards, after nine complete, because of a cut over the right eye of Villanueva; the scores read: 97-92, 98-91, 98-91, for Arroyo.

Arroyo went 77-278, sad output for a lighter weight boxer, to 95-494 for the guy who deserved the victory.

He didn’t win on my card, because he was not working that hard in that ring, it looked like.

People clapped, because the fight ended.

We saw Villa be a bit busier against the lefty early. Arroyo looked like he wanted to be a sneaky counterpuncher, as he waited…but he kept waiting. It was a strangely paced, slow paced bout through four.

Villa looked to be there with his lead right on the left-hander. Villa looked to edge back his foe, did some decent work with combos, in the sixth. The ref took a point from Villa for butting, though Arroyo was launching himself forward. A solid cut formed over the right eye of Villa, and the doc looked at it mid-round in the seventh. It was a gash but he didn’t see bone. The doc looked hard again after the round.

On to round eight of a middlin fight. SSDD. Round nine, more of the same. Sub middlin, actually…

The blood from the eye started again to start the tenth. The doc looked at the gash and pulled the plug, God bless him.

Follow @Woodsy1069

WATCH RELATED VIDEOS ON BOXINGCHANNEL.TV