Diaz/Angulo On Liakhovich/Briggs Undercard

One grew up in the streets, one had to survive in the jungle

Sergei “White Wolf” Liakhovich‘s (23-1, 19 KOs) first defense of the WBO heavyweight title he won from Lamon Brewster on April 1, 2006 will be against Shannon Briggs (47-4-1, 41 KOs) on November 4 at Chase Field in Phoenix, Arizona (Showtime). In a potentially exciting undercard, undefeated WBA lightweight champion Juan “Baby Bull” Diaz (30-0, 15 KOs) will get it on with the tougher than tough Ecuadorian Fernando “La Fiera” Angulo (18-3, 12 KOs).

The Baby Bull became the youngest current world champion at age 20 when he decisioned Lakva Sim in Houston on July 17, 2004, and this will be the 23-year-old Diaz’s first ring appearance since signing with DKP (Don King Productions).

Diaz’s opponent Angulo, while less known than his American counterpart, has a life story that puts most barrio grads to shame. He was born destitute in the Ecuadorian Amazon rainforest and ran away from his abusive parents at the age of seven. When he was eleven, La Fiera lived alone in the jungle for 18 months and relied on his will to survive by hunting game with makeshift weapons. When the hunt went poorly, as hunts often do, Angulo would forage for bugs, worms and snakes in a struggle to keep himself alive.

The only thing he refused to eat, not being of French extraction, were frogs.

Angulo is managed by Javier Zapata, the man behind the meteoric rise of Carlos Baldomir, and he sees similarities between the man who exposed Zab Judah at New York’s Garden Theater, the man who crushed Arturo Gatti at his home away from home, Boardwalk Hall in Atlantic City, and the young unknown survivor named Fernando Angulo.

Both these fighters, Zapata observed, come from the type of poverty where they are used to fighting for their lives. The only difference between Baldomir and Angulo is that one grew up in the streets and the other one had to survive in the jungle.

Tickets for the Liakhovich/Briggs and Diaz/Angulo are priced at $39, $54, $104, $204, $304 and $504 and are on sale at the Chase Field box office and Ticketmaster, or can be charged by phone at 480.784.4444.