De La Hoya says Kirkland a possibility for Canelo in December

By Boxing News - 09/28/2014 - Comments

canelo001010101By Dan Ambrose: Golden Boy Promotions president Oscar De La Hoya is saying that James Kirkland (32-1, 28 KOs) is a potential opponent for former WBA/WBC junior middleweight champion Saul “Canelo” Alvarez (44-1-1, 31 KOs) for his fight on December 6th at the Alamodome, in San Antonio, Texas, according to Dan Rafael of ESPN.

Kirkland was thought to be out of the picture for the 24-year-old Canelo after he’d agreed to fight Gabriel Rosado. But with that fight falling part due to Kirkland not happy with the money for the fight, it now leaves him as a possibility for the red-haired Canelo to fight.

“Spoke to @OscarDeLaHoya and asked if Kirkland was possible for @caneloOficial in December. He said now there is a chance of that fight,” Dan Rafael said on his twitter.

Kirkland vs. Canelo is actually a pretty decent fight compared to Joshua Clottey, who has been mentioned as Canelo’s likely opponent for that date. At least Kirkland is a legit junior middleweight with some size and power.

He’d have a fighting chance of beating Canelo, and he wouldn’t just stand with his back against the ropes covering up for 12 rounds like we saw with Clottey in the biggest fight of his career against Manny Pacquiao four years ago in 2010.

I’d still be very, very surprised if De La Hoya and Canelo were to agree to take the Kirkland fight because he’s someone with a decent chance of beating Canelo, and that would mess up his fight with WBC middleweight champion Miguel Cotto next year on Cinco de Mayo.

I suppose De La Hoya could still make that fight happen even if Canelo gets whipped by Kirkland, but it would be kind of a joke because fans wouldn’t be all that excited about paying to see a Canelo-Cotto fight with Canelo coming off of a loss to Kirkland.

Canelo would have an advantage over Kirkland given that Kirkland hasn’t fought since last December. He’ll have been out of the ring for exactly one year since his 6th round stoppage win over Glen Tapia. Being out of the ring for that length of time definitely won’t be a positive for Kirkland.



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