It looks like Cosme Rivera will replace Danny Perez as the opponent for 154-pound prospect Alfredo Angulo on Saturday's HBO-televised triple header show from Sunrise, Fla, according to Angulo's promoter Gary Shaw.

That makes Rivera, a tough and experienced journeyman from Mexico, a late substitute for a late substitute. Perez was brought in over the past weekend to replace Angulo's original opponent, Ricardo Mayorga, who pulled out of the fight last week in an attempt to squeeze more money from his promter (Don King), according to espn.com.

Angulo's promoter, Gary Shaw, says his team has offered Mayorga's slot to 15 junior middleweight contenders and fringe contenders, all of whom turned the opportunity down because they wanted more money.

“I don't understand these guys,” Shaw said. “They have a wonderful opportunity against a ranked-fighter on HBO and they were offered good money. I don't get how they can turn it down.”

Shaw said he heard that Perez pulled out for money reasons or because the fighter was struggling with making the contracted weight for the bout.

Rivera (31-11-2, 22 knockouts) is not a bad replacement on a few days notice. The 32-year-old veteran is coming off a victory and an eight-round No Contest against a 15-1 fighter that was orignially ruled TKO win, following competitive back-to-back losses to Joel Julio and Andre Berto in late 2006 and early 2007.

Rivera, who has only been stopped once in his 45-bout career, dropped Berto (now the WBC welterweight titleholder) and Julio (a recent 154-pound title challenger and feared puncher) during his bouts with them.

“I give Angulo a lot of respect,” Shaw said. “He had no problem taking on Perez on late notice, and now he's willing to fight a tough guy like Rivera on a few days notice. He doesn't care who he fights.”