“Perro” Angulo stops Joel Julio in 11th round to keep title

Angulo stops Julio in 11th round

ONTARIO, Calif. — Alfredo “Perro” Angulo stopped Joel Julio with a right cross midway through the 11th round to retain the WBO interim 154-pound title Saturday night.

Angulo (18-1, 15 KOs) dramatically ended a highly competitive fight with one perfect blow to Julio’s chin, sending his Colombian opponent tumbling to the canvas. Although Julio (35-4) shakily got back up and wanted to keep fighting, referee Raul Caiz stopped the bout at 1:39 of the 11th.

“Joel never hurt me,” Angulo said. “I know he has power, but it is really hard to hit Perro.”

Angulo earned his third straight victory after his only defeat against Kermit Cintron last May, while Julio lost for the third time in four bouts despite causing plenty of trouble for Angulo in a fight filled with damaging blows by both boxers.

Julio was furious afterward, saying Angulo was favored because he lives in California.

“I made a mistake, and I paid for it, but I was going to get up,” Julio said, mistakenly claiming he was ahead on the judges’ scorecards. “I would have fought on. There was only one more round. Angulo was tired. They stopped the fight too early. I don’t like what’s going on. I don’t like it at all. They’re doing this because I would have won by decision.”

Angulo was narrowly ahead on all three judges’ cards, and The Associated Press had Angulo leading 96-94 entering the 11th. The punch statistics were remarkably even, with Julio throwing 118 fewer punches but connecting with a higher percentage.

Angulo landed a big right hand in the second round for the fight’s first damaging punch, but Julio put Angulo on his heels in a dominating third round. Angulo rallied even while Julio caused swelling near Angulo’s right eye with a big left hook in the fifth.

Angulo was slightly more aggressive than the counterpunching Julio, consistently attacking and peppering the Colombian with combinations, including a nasty series of blows in the eighth round.

After Angulo opened a cut near Julio’s right eye in the middle rounds, he repeatedly attempted to finish off Julio but was unsuccessful until Julio missed with a left hand that left him open for the final punch.

A day earlier, Angulo showed up nearly two hours late to the undercard weigh-in, receiving a hefty fine that went straight to Julio. Angulo still made weight with a quarter-pound to spare.

“I care about the fight, not the money,” Angulo said. “All that’s important is that I perform and win for people who came to see Perro.”