Canelo-Angulo formally announced for Mar. 8 Showtime PPV

Canelo-Angulo formally announced for Mar. 8 Showtime PPV

Mexican superstar Saul Alvarez, or “Canelo“, will return to the ring on Mar. 8 atop a Showtime pay-per-view card against rugged Mexican Alfredo Angulo, the network announced via a press release on Friday.

Alvarez will return to the MGM Grand, the scene of his first professional defeat suffered at the hands of pound-for-pound king Floyd Mayweather last September in the sport’s highest grossing bout in history. The 23-year old Alvarez (42-1-1, 3o knockouts) is looking to rebound from his first blemish by taking on the come-forward Angulo (22-3, 18 KOs), who is coming off a June defeat at the hands of Erislandy Lara. It is projected to be the first of three fights for Alvarez in 2013, per an announcement made by Golden Boy Promotions CEO Richard Schaefer late last year.

The bout tops a three-fight undercard featuring a number of young fighters that Golden Boy sees as future building blocks.

In the co-feature is WBC junior featherweight champion Leo Santa Cruz in the second defense of his title, taking on former junior bantamweight champion Cristian Mijares in a scheduled twelve-round bout.

The 25-year old Santa Cruz (26-0-1, 15 KOs) won a unanimous decision last month against Cesar Seda in his first defense on the undercard of Marcos Maidana’s dramatic upset of Adrien Broner at The Alamodome. Santa Cruz has emerged as one of the top young Mexican fighters with a come-forward crowd-pleasing style. Mijares (49-7-2, 24 KOs) challenged for a vacant junior featherweight title last April, dropping a split-decision against Victor Terrazas in a great fight. This could represent Mijares’ last opportunity to make it back to the top.

Interim WBC lightweight champion Omar Figueroa will defend his title against Ricardo Alvarez, one of Canelo’s many fighting older brothers in a scheduled twelve-round bout.

The 24-year old Figueroa (22-0-1, 17 KOs) comes off a breakthrough 2013 that saw him engage in one of the year’s most dramatic fights as he decisioned the previously unknown Nihito Arakawa in San Antonio back in July. It was Figueroa’s toughest fight to date as he went twelve rounds for the first time in his career, nearly collapsing from exhaustion as he launched over a thousand punches at his opponent over the course of the fight. Figueroa has become must-see television and is never in a dull fight. Alvarez (23-2-3, 14 KOs) is likely getting the opportunity off his famous name rather than in-ring ability. The 32-year old Alvarez made his American debut on the Dec. 14 Maidana-Broner card, winning a ten-round majority decision over unheralded Rod Salka.

In the opening bout of the PPV telecast, Carlos Molina defends his newly won IBF junior middleweight title against emerging contender Jermall Charlo, who will fighting in a scheduled 12-round bout for the very first time.

Molina (22-5-2, 6 KOs) won the bout last September on the Mayweather-Canelo undercard by winning a split-decision against Ishe Smith in a very ugly bout. Molina is hoping to keep his winning ways in order to get a big money fight, perhaps with the winner of the main event between Alvarez and Angulo. Charlo (17-0, 13 KOs) went 7-0 with 7 knockouts in a banner 2013 and hasn’t seen the distance since going four rounds in his sixth pro bout. Charlo will be taking a large step up in class, presenting an interesting matchup.

In a bout that will likely precede the PPV broadcast on Showtime Extreme, former two division titlist Jorge Linares returns to the States for the first time since October 2012, facing off with the previously mentioned Nihito Arakawa in what promises to be a bout filled with fireworks.

Linares (35-3, 23 KOs) was set to meet Richard Abril in Japan last November for Abril’s WBA lightweight title, but Abril had to pull out at the last minute due to injury. Linares instead scored an easy one-round knockout of late substitute Francisco Contreras, notching his fourth consecutive victory dating back to a two-round TKO loss at the hands of Sergio Thompson for the vacant WBC lightweight title. Linares was built up as a future pound-for-pound great, but has suffered humbling defeats when he has been right on the cusp of breaking through. It is thought that Golden Boy Promotions is building Linares as an opponent for Figueroa later in the year, and what better way to do so than by matching him up with Arakawa, who gave Figueroa easily his toughest fight to date. Arakawa (24-3-1, 16 KOs) was largely unknown outside his home country of Japan prior to meeting Figueroa, but performed so admirably that American fight fans demanded he be brought back to American television. Thankfully, that wish has been granted, and Arakawa will get another opportunity to make a splash.

-Mark E. Ortega / @MarkEOrtega

-Managing editor at www.BehindTheGloves.com

“TOE TO TOE: Canelo vs. Angulo,” a 12-round super welterweight fight taking place Saturday, March 8 at the MGM Grand Garden Arena in Las Vegas, is promoted by Golden Boy Promotions and Canelo Promotions and sponsored by Corona and AT&T. This event will be produced and distributed live by SHOWTIME PPV beginning at 9:00 p.m. ET/6:00 p.m. PT. The event can be heard in Spanish using secondary audio programming (SAP).

For more information, visit www.goldenboypromotions.com, www.sports.sho.com and www.mgmgrand.com, follow on Twitter at @GoldenBoyBoxing, @CaneloOficial, @elperro82, @leosantacruz2, @diamantemijares, @OmarFigueroaJr, @DinamitaAB, @JorgeLinares, @mgmgrand and @SHOSports, follow the conversation using #CaneloAngulo and become a fan on Facebook at www.facebook.com/GoldenBoyBoxing and www.facebook.com/SHOBoxing.

Tickets are on sale and are priced at $600, $400, $200, $100, $50 and $25, not including applicable service charges and taxes, with a total ticket limit of 10 per person.  To charge by phone with a major credit card, call Ticketmaster at (800) 745-3000. Tickets also are available for purchase at www.mgmgrand.com or www.ticketmaster.com.