Michael Angeletti looks for big names at 118lbs after first main event

Bantamweight contender Michael Angeletti headlined his first card on Saturday and now hopes to land a fight with the titleholders and big names at 118lbs. 

Angeletti, now 14-0 (8 KOs), defeated Eros Correa in the 10-round main event at the Boeing Center at Tech Port in San Antonio, Texas. The bout was streamed on ProBox TV. 

Angeletti, a 28-year-old from Spring, Texas, filled in for the previous main event of Justin Pauldo vs. Juan Carlos Burgos after Pauldo missed weight. Angeletti kept a calm demeanor, as he didn’t want to overthink the opportunity of being the featured fight. 

“I don’t think of it as the main event, because I didn’t want to make myself nervous or make myself intimidated,” Angeletti told BoxingScene. “I thought of it as any other big fight.”

Angeletti’s win over Correa, now 15-2 (9 KOs), was his biggest win so far. Still, Angeletti didn’t see it as a flawless performance despite all three judges scoring the bout 99-91. 

“I would grade myself a B, like an 85 out of 100,” Angeletti said. “The jab was the key to the fight. I stuck to the straight punches.”

In the 10th and final round, Angeletti began to walk down Correa in spots, even dazing him with a sequence of punches ending with a left hook. 

“I wanted to finish the show strongly since I was the main event,” Angeletti said. “I wanted to push the pace, and when I saw the opportunities, I let my hands go in the last round.”

Angeletti, who is ranked No. 15 by the IBF, believes a life-changing opportunity could happen at any time.

“That call could happen at any moment,” he said. 

One man stands above the rest at bantamweight: Junto Nakatani. On Sunday, Nakatani unified the IBF and WBC titles, stopping Ryosuke Nishida in the sixth round. Though given Nakatani’s post-fight comments after his victory about a future fight with undisputed junior featherweight champion Naoya Inoue, his future at bantamweight is uncertain.

“He [Nakatani] is listed at the weight right now, so I don’t recognize him as a 122lber, but if he moves up, he moves up,” Angeletti said. “I plan on seeing him in the future. I want the big names. I am knocking on the door and I am ready for all of them.”