(Photo Credit: HoganPhotos/Golden Boy Promotions) By Dan Ambrose: For the first time in Saul “Canelo” Alvarez’s boxing career he’ll be facing a puncher with power equal to his own when he faces James Kirkland (32-1, 28 KOs) in their catch-weight fight at 155 pounds on May 9th at the Minute Maid Stadium in Houston, Texas.
This is a fight that would have been a tossup had it taken place six years ago when Kirkland was fighting on a regular basis, but he now only fights infrequently. He’s gotten heavy and he hasn’t fought since December 2013 when he beat Glen Tapia by a 6th round TKO. Still, it’s difficult to really predict how Kirkland will do against Canelo, because it’s a fight that could very well go Kirkland’s way if he’s in shape and sharp.
We’ve already seen how badly flawed the red-haired Canelo is in his fights against Floyd Mayweather Jr, Austin Trout and Erislandy Lara. Canelo arguably lost all three of those fights, including the fight he was given a draw in against Carlos Molina many years ago.
Canelo arguably should have 4 defeats on his record. It wouldn’t be surprising if Kirkland took the fight to Canelo and chopped him down in front of the HBO viewers who will be watching the fight on May 9th. Needless to say, it would be a huge blow to Golden Boy Promotions president Oscar De La Hoya, as he’s been proudly saying over and over again that the 24-year-old Canelo will be the future No.1 pay-per-view star.
“I’m ready to put my life on the line and give it everything I’ve got,” Kirkland said. “I want to show my fans what I’ve really come to do.”
I don’t think it’s going to come to this for Kirkland. Canelo tends to get tired and back off if he’s unable to take his opponents out with a flurry of shots.
Canelo’s face turns red and he has to back off and catch his breath after he throws a handful of punches. If Canelo backs up to the ropes after he gasses out like he did against Trout and Mayweather, it’s quite possible that Kirkland will attack him and put it on Canelo.
Kirkland is a pretty good body puncher, and he could hurt Canelo to the body in the same way that Trout did in their fight in 2013.
At this point it’s still a long shot for Kirkland to win the fight. Golden Boy picked the perfect time of his career to match Canelo against him with Kirkland being overweight and inactive for close to two years. Before Kirkland signed the fight with Canelo, he was reportedly close or at 200 pounds, and looking flabby.
If the weight is correct, then Kirkland will need to burn through the blubber to get to the 155 pound catch-weight that Canelo will have for the fight. I don’t think Kirkland will be able to take off all the lard, but he should be able to burn though at least 30 pounds of it to bring him close enough to the 155 pound limit for him to dehydrate the rest of the weight off to get down to 155 for the fight.
Yes, Kirkland will very likely be weight drained and weak for the fight, but that’s how it goes when you’ve been off for as long as Kirkland has from the sport and have put on the kind of blubber that he did. The positive for Canelo is that he’ll be able to add Kirkland’s scalp to his collection.
The negative is that he’ll have done it against a rusty and overweight fighter. It would be a duplicate situation with Canelo fighting a rusty and out of shape Alfredo Angulo last year.
Angulo hadn’t fought in ages, and he’d put a ton of weight. After signing the contract for the Canelo fight, Angulo was rumored to have lost 45 pounds in a short period of time to make the 155 pound weight limit for the fight. The result was that Angulo looked incredibly weak, and was unable to take the fight to Canelo in the same way he’d done against his other opponents.
“On May 9 we have a dangerous fight, a fight that could end at any time with one punch,” Canelo’s trainer Eddie Reynoso said. “That’s why we have been getting ready since the second week of January. That’s why we are going get ready like never before. Kirkland is a fighter with a very big punch, and he’s very good.”
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