Alfredo “Perro” Angulo, who was all bark and plenty of bark inside a boxing ring, kept silent as to his immigration issues.
No one was more stunned to learn about this than his promoter, Big Gary Shaw, and his manager, Mike Criscio.
Now, with HBO’s legal beagles having issued a “no fight” letter about his illegal status in the United States, the hard punching fighter from Mexicali is between the proverbial rock and the hard place.
On Wednesday, I exclusively revealed the 28 year old’s predicament.
After the revelation comes the speculation and, perhaps, more hard facts.
One disturbing questions which naturally arises is whether Angulo was using a fake or stolen Social Security number for ID purposes.
That’s a question best put to commissions in California, Florida and other states where he was permitted to box.
Looking back to August, it’s easy to speculate that Angulo rejected a career high purse of $750,000 (manager Criscio told me he got the offer up another $100,000) to fight middleweight champion Sergio Martinez.
That rejection flabbergasted Shaw and Criscio on one side and Martinez handler Lou DiBella on the other. Criscio said “Perro” held to a demand of $1 million, a figure that HBO would not agree to.
Perhaps Angulo made the exorbitant demand because he did not want the media glare that would be attached to such a high profile bout. I can’t be sure but you can draw your own conclusions why a professional fighter would take a pass on $850,000 in this economic climate.
There is no quick or easy solution as Angulo (full name Alfredo Angulo Lopez) was once “removed” (they used to say deported) and returned to Mexico, the country he represented in the 2004 Olympic Games.
Evidently, like millions of others, Angulo leaped a fence or took a dip in a river–somehow, some way he crossed the broder illegally.
Doing so after removal is a crime, a felony.
Now Angulo may not be able to legally enter America for up to five years.
Here’s some pertinent Q and A on the matter thanks to Fairfax, Va., immigration law specialist David Hughes (his site is USImmigrationLawyers.Com.):
The Waiting Time for Application for a Waiver
Most aliens who are removed from the United States have a set period of time they have to wait before they can reenter the United States. Using Form I-212, an alien can ask permission to enter before the required waiting time is complete. If an alien was removed because of an aggravated felony, he likely has to stay out of the U.S. for 20 years. If he was removed for a lesser charge, he may have to wait 5 or 10 years before applying for a waiver. The severity of the grounds for removal will affect the likelihood of approval for a waiver.
Illegally Reentering the U.S. after Removal is a Felony
Under federal law (8 U.S.C. ? 1325), anyone who enters the Unites States illegally is committing a misdemeanor offense and can be sentenced to a fine or six months in prison. The federal law accompanying ? 1325 is 8 U.S.C. ? 1326 which makes the offense of reentering, or attempting to reenter the United States after being removed or deported a felony offense. You will likely be permanently barred from the United States if you illegally reenter after a prior removal unless you can show credible fear about returning and make application for asylum.
As the situation stands now, I wouldn’t count on seeing Angulo fighting in an American ring or on US television any time soon.
Make no mistake, Angulo cannot earn the purses in Mexico that he would’ve made on Showtime or HBO in the United States.
Maybe he steered clear of Martinez because he knew he had something to hide, namely, himself.
But didn’t he know that eventually the Long Arm of La Migra would catch up with him?
Like so many other Mexicans, he came to America to improve his life financially. But, somewhere during his stay here, why didn’t he reach out through his handlers to repair his immigration status?
Of course he did which is why, in this case, my sympathy is with his manager, his promoter and trainer Clemente Medina.
They put in time and labor for what?
Let’s just say this, “Perro” is not the brightest canine in the boxing kennel.
Having said that, I hope he can eventually unravel his tangled status.
His worst critic (and it’s not me, you chat board snipers) has to admit he was one exciting performer between those ring ropes.
