Canelo vs. Kirkland in the works for May 2nd in San Antonio on HBO

By Boxing News - 01/20/2015 - Comments

canelo112By Dan Ambrose: A fight between former WBA/WBC junior middleweight champion Saul “Canelo” Alvarez (44-1-1, 31 KOs) and James Kirkland (32-1, 28 KOs) is in the works for May 2nd on HBO from San Antonio, Texas, according to Lance Pugmire of the Los Angeles Times.

The Canelo-Kirkland negotiations are in the advanced stages. This is an obvious move by the red-headed Canelo to get the May 2nd date before Mayweather wraps up negotiations with Mayweather for the same date.

If Canelo and Kirkland grab the date first on HBO, then it puts pressure on Mayweather to have to move off the date. Canelo badly wants the fight date for his Mexican people because it falls on the Mexican holiday Cinco de Mayo, and obviously to take advantage of the many Mexican fans that celebrate on the Mexican holidays.

“Hearing from well-placed officials that @caneloOficial-James Kirkland is in advanced if not final stages for May 2 in San Antonio on HBO. Let me be clear: news not formally confirmed for canelo Official Kirkland. That would obviously alter plans for Floyd Mayweather Manny Pacquiao on May 2,” Pugmire said on his twitter.

As Pugmire points out, this isn’t official yet. It’s still in the works, but the way he makes it sound is like it’s close to being done.

This is potentially a tough fight for Canelo if it gets made. Kirkland can punch and he’s capable of throwing a lot of shots. If he can pin Canelo to the ropes, he’ll work him over in the same way he did Tapia. He could wreck Canelo’s career and finish him as a pay per view fighter before he’s really gotten started.

Golden Boy Promotions president Oscar De La Hoya thinks Canelo will be boxing’s biggest star for the next 10 years, but he’s looked anything like that in his fights against Austin Trout, Mayweather and Erislandy Lara.

A loss to Kirkland would be a huge setback for Canelo’s career unless he gets another controversial win like the ones he got against Lara and Trout. You can make an argument that Canelo should have four defeats on his resume because the draw he got was a fight where he appeared to lose as well.

Kirkland is a fighter known to hardcore boxing fans, but not too well-known to the casual boxing fans. That’s because he hasn’t been all that active in the last four years. Between 2011 and 2015, Kirkland has fought exactly three times. Only three times in four years. That’s obviously not good. Kirkland last fought in December 2013 when he beat Glen Tapia by a 6th round knockout.

Before that, Kirkland fought in March of 2012 in beating Carlos Molina by a controversial 10th round disqualification. Kirkland looked horrible against Molina the entire fight until the weird stoppage by the referee. In 2011, Kirkland picked up the biggest win of his career in stopping Alfredo Angulo in the 6th round after getting dropped hard in the 1st.

Canelo has been out of the ring since last July when he beat Erislandy Lara by a controversial 12 round decision in their catch-weight fight at 155 pounds. A lot of boxing fans thought Canelo lost that fight. But at the very least, he looked terrible in getting out-boxed in the same way he was by Mayweather.



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