Can Harry Joe Yorgey’s
lightning tame Angulo?
By Mike Cassell Fighting
City Boxing Report
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 7th 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 junior middleweight 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.
