Can Yorgey's lightning tame Angulo?

Can Yorgey’s lightning tame Angulo?

By

Mike Cassell Fighting City Boxing Report

Written on October 27, 2009

The difference between good and great in the sport of boxing is immeasurable. Some fighters enter the ring fighting for something. Fighters like Bridgeport Pennsylvania’s Lightning Harry Joe Yorgey 22-0-(11KO’s) enter the ring fighting for everything. On Saturday November 7^th Glen Johnson will meet Chad Dawson for the second time on HBO championship boxing. That fight is going to be a flat out slugfest, but the undercard is just as interesting, and has all the makings of a classic. Two years ago Yorgey who is now 31 years old was working construction and was banging it out with tough fighters at the Legendary Blue Horizon. The Blue Horizon is where fighters like Bernard Hopkins and Arturo Gatti made their bones, and Yorgey is cut from the same cloth. He is a dig down fighter with real technical proficiency. In a 2005 interview, I asked Harry why he didn’t go for the early knock out more often in his fights. His answer was simple and very lucid. “I want to still have something when I finally get my shot. There is no sense in getting my head bashed in to please the crowd when I know how to hit and not get hit. And when you do that well, the crowd loves it”

 Yorgey can move. He has a “Pernell Whitaker” like style that has confused and bewildered fighters in Philadelphia. He has definitely been in a few tough ones, which this writer has witnessed firsthand. But he always digs deep enough to out class his opposition. He has that intangible that cannot be bought, taught or sold. He really needs it. He has the classic Philadelphia inferiority complex. It carried Bernard Hopkins most of his career. He doesn’t feel like the rest of the boxing world gives him the respect he deserves, and he wants to go out prove to everyone that he is guy HBO should be pushing not Angulo. Alfredo Angulo 16 – 1 (13KO’s) from Mexicali Mexico is a very heavy handed 27 year old fighter. His style is that of a stalking counter puncher. Someone like Yorgey, with a low knockout percentage is Angulo’s perfect fight, but that is the same thinking that got KO artist Ronald Hearns put to sleep on Showtime Television at the hands of Yorgey back in March. Angulo was embarrassed and easily out classed by the very rugged Philadelphia fighter Kermit Cintron. This is something Yorgey is very aware of. Angulo bounced back quickly recently, easily disposing of another Philadelphia fighter Gabriel Rosado. It seems as if Angulo just likes fighters from Philadelphia, but as far as styles go, this one with Yorgey is going to be something special.

This fight is the classic Puncher versus the boxer. The question for this fight is historically always the same. Can the puncher box well enough to find the boxer, and can the boxer dig down deep enough to hurt the puncher. Both of these men have the ability to do what is needed, but I believe Yorgey just doesn’t want this fight. He needs it. Unlike Angulo, he never had big money behind him. Unlike Angulo he never really got the press. And thirdly and most importantly, he doesn’t know how to lose, because unlike Angulo he is undefeated. Racking up a record of 22-0 in any other city in the United States is pretty impressive. Doing it in Philadelphia is a whole other story. Boxing’s money is firmly on the West Coast, backing and developing fighters like Angulo, and making World Champions. Fighters like Yorgey earned his television shot on HBO by beating Jason Le Houllier on ESPN and knocking out undefeated Ronald Hearns on Showtime. His mission is simple and his motives are clear. Angulo is the mountain that stands between himself and everything he ever wanted in his boxing life, and he is going to climb it, go around it, or go right through it to live his dream.