20/20 Hindsight: Nothing New From Angulo, The Roy Jones Story That Won't Die and Other Quick Thoughts

There was no big fight this past Saturday, but there was a fight worth watching on ESPN2 on Friday night as Alfredo Angulo attempted to get his career back on the right track. In some ways, he did that by knocking out Gabriel Rosado. Certainly his confidence should be back, though perhaps it never left if his dog-themed entrance was any indication.

I'm not sure we really learned anything about Angulo though. With all due respect to Rosado, who isn't a stiff by any means, Perro was in against someone who didn't look able to hurt him and couldn't deal with his pressure.

The last time we saw Angulo, he was getting taught a lesson by Kermit Cintron, who used a good jab and superior footwork to bring Alfredo's limitations to the forefront. Rosado just wasn't good enough in the same areas for us to know if Angulo has improved.

I still think Angulo's chance to be a star is pretty good. He has fight-changing power in both hands and certainly gives fans the action they want. It's just impossible to say for sure if he's any closer to reaching his potential until he fights someone else as good as or better than Cintron.

Also in action on Friday Night Fights was Anthony Dirrell, younger brother of Andre Dirrell. Though he doesn't appear to have as much upside as The Matrix, he's fun to watch as he switches stances often and has fast hands. He's also easy to root for, having already gone through a bout with Non-Hodgkin lymphoma that put his boxing life on hold for a couple of years.

Changing gears a bit, regular readers should know that I get a lot of amusement out of the apparent infatuation that Roy Jones Jr. and UFC middleweight champion Anderson Silva have with someday boxing each other. That story just won't completely go away, and it got a new boost of energy this weekend.

That's because Silva added another ridiculous (in a good way) KO to his MMA record by starching Forrest Griffin, who was in attendance in Philadelphia. Dave Meltzer of Yahoo! Sports says a Jones-Silva fight is more likely to happen than some would suspect, though not until the Spider fulfills the remaining three bouts on his UFC contract.

My opinion of this fight hasn't changed, as I'd still like to see it. Though many MMA fighters are starting to take the sweet science more seriously, I think a high percentage of them would be in for a rude awakening if forced to fight under the other sports' rules. Before anyone jumps on me, this would be true going the other way too - Andre Berto, are you listening?

But Silva is so gifted in the stand-up portion of MMA and Roy has never been a master technician, so this particular match-up is intriguing. It needs to happen before Jones gets too old though.

Other quick thoughts:

* I think Vitali Klitschko agreeing to fight Chris Arreola is another one for the "you can't blame the Klitschkos for the sorry state of the heavyweight division" side of the argument. Both he and Wladimir certainly seem willing to fight anyone.

* Am I crazy, or is there a good chance that Paul Williams will make Kelly Pavlik look silly if they fight? It's strange to me that The Punisher's camp is reportedly the one making negotiations difficult, because Williams should be jumping at the chance to take on someone as high profile as The Ghost.

* With apologies for talking about MMA on a boxing blog twice in one post, anyone who doesn't think a good chin is a valuable trait in the combat sports can just watch replays of Brian Bowles' knockout of Miguel Torres from the WEC event last Sunday. Bowles walked through some stiff shots to land his own, an even more impressive feat with the lighter MMA gloves.

Posted by The Franchise