By Dan Ambrose: Former WBA/WBC junior middleweight champion Saul “Canelo” Alvarez (44-1-1, 31 KOs) will be fighting soon to be 31-year-old James Kirkland (32-1, 28 KOs) in his next fight at a still to be determined date and venue.
Oscar De La Hoya says Canelo is pleased to be fighting Kirkland because he wants a guy that won’t be running from him in the ring when they square off. Canelo, 24, wasn’t pleased in his fights against Floyd Mayweather Jr and Erislandy Lara because he feels that these two fighters ran from him in the ring.
Canelo wanted them to stand and fight him in the pocket. However, when the two of them did stand their ground and fight the way Canelo did, they frequently got the better of him. Canelo struggled against Lara and Mayweather when they would stand and fight the way he wanted them to.
By picking Kirkland, who hasn’t fought in the last 13 months, Canelo will be getting a rusty guy known for his poor defense, chin and stamina problems. Kirkland was knocked out in just one round by Nobuhiro Ishida in 2011.
While Kirkland has a good record in terms of wins and losses, he really has never beaten any quality fighters. His best wins were against Alfredo Angulo, Brian Vera, Glen Tapia and Carlos Molina. Kirkland has faced anyone of note beyond those guys.
“Canelo just wants to fight. Canelo wants Kirkland because he knows it’s going to be an entertaining fight and he knows Kirkland won’t run and will be in his face,” De La Hoya said via Dan Rafael of ESPN.com. “Canelo is not moved at all by Cotto pulling out. He’s moving on and he is going to be fighting against Kirkland. We’ll probably call the fight ‘Explosive,’ because that is exactly what it will be.”
You can make an argument that Canelo and De La Hoya want Kirkland because he’s a flawed fighter who hasn’t done anything in the ring in a long, long time. Kirkland hasn’t stayed active with his career, and there are a lot of questions about whether he can come back from a long layoff, which will likely be close to a year and a half by the time he steps inside the ring against Canelo in whatever month they face each.
Right now, they’re looking at Canelo fighting Kirkland on May 2nd on the Mexican holiday Cinco de Mayo. But if Floyd Mayweather Jr faces Manny Pacquiao next on May 2nd, then Canelo vs. Kirkland could get pushed out to the summer months. That would be even more time for Kirkland to be out of the ring.
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