By Dan Ambrose: Former WBA/WBC junior middleweight champion Saul “Canelo” Alvarez’s scheduled opponent for May 2nd, James Kirkland (31-1, 28 KOs) is reportedly near 200 pounds for their catch-weight fight at 155 pounds, according to Dan Rafael of ESPN.com. If this weight is correct, then Kirkland is going to need to lose close to 45 pounds in a little over three months in order to make the 155 pound catch-weight.
Is it possible that Kirkland can physically remove all the weight to make the fight? Yes, but the likelihood of Kirkland winding up weight drained and weak for the fight is also fairly high.
”Alvarez-Kirkland is a done deal. It is signed and will happen in May,” Dan Rafael said via ESPN.com. ”James has been off for 1 1/2 years and one of his close advisers told me he is close to 200 pounds, so he has to lose a lot to make 155. That be bad for him. I think it’s Canelo’s fight to lose.”
This is similar to Canelo’s situation for his fight against Alfredo Angulo last year in which Angulo reportedly has to strip off over 40 pounds to make weight for his catch-weight fight at 155 pounds. Angulo ended up looking weaker than he’d ever been in a fight, and Canelo got an easy win in a fight that made him look better than he might otherwise have looked had Angulo not had to drop so much weight.
You have to wonder why Canelo’s promoters at Golden Boy Promotions keep selecting fighters that have been out of the ring for prolonged periods of time and who have put on a lot of weight. Canelo could have matched against one of the Charlo brothers, or he could have been put in with Gennady Golokvin. Those guys wouldn’t have to take off huge amounts of weight in order to face Canelo, and they would arguably make for much bigger fights than Canelo-Kirkland.
Golovkin vs. Canelo is a pay-per-view bout. The Charlo brothers vs. Canelo wouldn’t be pay-per-view, but they’d still be far more interesting fights than the Kirkland fight.
It’s possible that Kirkland can take off the weight to be ready physically to face Canelo without being weight drained. But if you’re someone who’s taken off that much weight in a three month period before, you’ve got to know it leaves you feeling a lot weaker before. To take off that kind of weight, you really need at least five good months if you want to take it off and not wind up weakened by the process.
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