By Ryan Maquiñana

Virgil Hunter, trainer of Alfredo Angulo, spoke to BoxingScene.com/CSNBayArea.com about his fighter’s upcoming matchup with Erislandy Lara for an interim 154-pound title belt this Saturday in Carson, Calif.

This weekend marks Angulo’s third fight with Hunter following a highly publicized seven-month ordeal in a Southern California immigration detention center.

“He’s the type of guy you would go to war with,” Hunter said of Angulo. “With everything he’s been through and the way he’s handled it all, he has nothing but my admiration and respect.”

Angulo has trained in the San Francisco Bay Area with sprint coach Remi Korchemny and nutritionist Victor Conte, in addition to his work in the gym with Hunter, who acknowledged Lara’s skills but felt that the gameplan is in place for victory.

“Lara’s a good fighter, but he fights out of that [Cuban amateur] system,” Hunter said.   “He won’t stray too far from that, and so, we know what to expect.”

Hunter also lauded Angulo for what he feels is an underrated ring IQ.

“Alfredo’s going to surprise some people and show that he’s more than just [a brawler].  He’s a lot smarter in the ring than people give him credit for, and he’s going to use his intelligence to wear Lara down.”

Ryan Maquiñana was the boxing producer for NBCOlympics.com during London 2012 and writes a weekly column for CSNBayArea.com.  He is a full member of the Boxing Writers Association of America and the Ratings Panel for Ring Magazine. E-mail him at rmaquinana@gmail.com , check out his blog at Norcalboxing.net, or follow him on Twitter: @RMaq28.