The Fall of James Kirkland, and the Resulting Tumble of a Sport

By Brock Kaiser: The process of selecting a jury will begin this week in the case of the United States versus James Kirkland, an opponent that no boxer would ever want to take on, nor would desire the reason to be his name being highlighted in the media for.

The media and the sport of boxing have had somewhat of an unfamiliar relationship in recent years. One of the more prevalent fallacies in the sport is that one of the reasons why boxing has been relegated to the status of a “fringe” sport in terms of popularity is that the media has simply chosen to ignore it. But in reality, this isn’t the case. The fact is the media is not responsible for the decline in boxing’s popularity. We are as sports fans.

Despite perception, media outlets do not decide what to report on, we do as fans via what we choose to watch, listen to, and read. The media in turn pays close attention to ratings and as a result will spend the most time reporting on what caters to the greatest common denominator and thus what will deliver the highest rating numbers. Unfortunately, boxing fans don’t fall into that group.

As the saying goes, it’s not personal, just business.

Consequently, understanding that becoming a sports star is rare for any one individual, it is even more unlikely for boxers. And especially fleeting is fame with those who treat it with contempt. That makes the choices James Kirkland made all the more disappointing.

Kirkland was a rising star in boxing. Along with an unblemished professional record he had a crowd-pleasing style and a back-story that would make any Hollywood producer salivate. He even added intrigue to by choosing a female trainer, Anne Wolf (an accomplished fighter with an interesting past in her own right) to help guide him towards a title and resulting glory. By all accounts, Kirkland seemed destined for excellence.

But instead of this article being about Kirkland’s dominant rise within the ring, it instead concerns the fall he had while outside of it.

The alleged facts are as follows: Kirkland was arrested by U.S. Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, and Firearms agents who, along with Austin police, found a loaded .40-caliber Glock pistol in the center console of his Cadillac, a violation of his probation for a previous armed robbery in 2003.

Presumably, Kirkland didn’t get the point the first time.

The arrest came after federal agents staking out the Saxet Gun Show watched Kirkland give money to his girlfriend to buy .40-caliber ammunition and followed Kirkland’s Cadillac, which his girlfriend was driving at high speed from the North Austin gun show.

Authorities allege that Kirkland had bought the Glock pistol the day before at the gun show for $525 and tried Sunday to buy another one but was turned down by a seller.

More disturbing was after the fact Kirkland’s probation officer told federal agents that she was in the process of revoking his probation in connection with another Austin case in which Kirkland is a suspect.

Kirkland was consequently charged with possession of a firearm and ammunition by a convicted felon, and depending on what happens in his impending court case, boxing lost one of its potential stars for the foreseeable future.

Furthermore, when (or if) Kirkland does come back to the sport, boxing fans are going to be presented with the ethical dilemma of how he will be received in his return. Do we forgive him in the belief that second chances are no longer adequate or fair benchmarks for exoneration, or do we do so for the simple fact that boxing needs all the star power it can get? And if our decision is influenced more from a business standpoint than a moral one, can we ever again sternly judge the decisions of the media regarding their perception of boxing?

Writer and theologian Henri de Lubac once wrote, “Habit and routine have an unbelievable power to waste and destroy.” Truer words could not have been written concerning Kirkland’s purported choices.

And these were in fact choices, not “mistakes” as they are sometimes classified when our athletes run afoul of the law as if someone accidentally knocked over a cup from a table. No matter what influence or enticement one is presented ultimately an individual in the free world has the final say in the actions they undertake.

Kirkland had the ability to fully rationalize his decisions and it is disrespectful to him as an adult and insulting to us as fans to suggest otherwise.

Comedian Bill Cosby once gave a famous speech to the NAACP on the 50th Anniversary of Brown v. Board of Education concerning personal responsibility. In it he said, “I heard a prize fight manager say to his fellow who was losing badly, ‘David, listen to me. It’s not what’s he’s doing to you. It’s what you’re not doing.’”

What Kirkland didn’t do is consider his future and everything that he had to lose by purchasing that gun, nor did he think about the responsibility he had to the sport in which he competed.

And boxing is all the poorer for it.

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