When junior middleweight (154 pounds) prospect Alfredo Angulo lost the only bout of his professional career to Kermit Cintron in May of 2009 in an HBO-televised fight, his promoter, Gary Shaw, and his manager, Mike Criscio, went to work rebuilding the man who is nicknamed, "Perro," or, "Dog."
Three months later, the duo landed Angulo in an ESPN-televised bout four days prior to his 27th birthday on Aug. 7, where the fighter scored a second-round knockout of Gabriel Rosado.
Next up were two more HBO-televised match ups, respectively, against previously unbeaten Harry Joe Yorgey and Joel Julio, whom he stopped in the third, and, 11th rounds, earning the WBO interim junior middleweight crown by defeating Julio.
Angulo was back on HBO again last month, when he scored a first-round stoppage of former WBA titlist Joachim Alcine. Angulo's fourth straight knockout raised his mark to 19-1, with 16 KOs, setting up a potential bouts with any of the division champions.
In the 34-year-old Alcine (32-1, 19 KOs), of Quebec, Canada, Angulo faced a man who had earned two straight decisions since being dethroned following a November, 2008, sixth-round knockout loss to Daniel Santos.
"There's not many people who can get built up the way that we did with Alfredo Angulo," said Criscio. "But we may have created a monster while building him. I think that we did too good of a job building him up and getting him to where he is, and maybe that's our own fault."
Criscio's sentiment is the result of the latest development with Angulo, who has not only turned down a fifth appearance on HBO in his last six fights, but, more importantly, a $750,000 pay day to face Argentinian-born, WBC middleweight (160 pounds) champion, Sergio Martinez (45-2-2, 24 KOs) "at catch weight of about 155 or 156 pounds."
Angulo, who turned 28 on Aug. 11, did so after instead requesting $1 million purse, said Criscio and Shaw.
"This would have been seventh or eighth time on HBO," said Shaw. "And I thought that I was giving him a birthday gift."
Instead, "The Dog" bit the hands that fed him.
"I think that he should have taken the fight. I think that $750,000 is a more than fair offer. In fact, it was a great offer for that fight. There's not many people with 20 or less fights that are making almost $1 million. So, I just think that he should have taken the fight," said Criscio, who then referred to Martinez's upset unanimous decision over then-WBO and WBC middleweight champion, Kelly Pavlik, in April.
"We did what promoters and managers are supposed to do. Martinez only got around $750,000 for fighting Kelly Pavlik, so I thought that $750,00 was more than enough for Angulo as an opponent," said Criscio. "We'll have to wait until next year, I guess. You know, we're kind of screwed right now. I know that HBO is not too happy with him
