By Jim Dower: According to Kevin Iole of Yahoo Sports, light middleweight James Kirkland (25-0, 22 KO’s) will be released from a Texas State prison on October 2nd, and could be fighting by the end of this year. Kirkland, a convicted felon, was arrest for possession of a firearm in April 2009, and was later sent to prison. Kirkland, only 26, last fought in March 2009, stopping Joel Julio in the 6th round.

At the time that Kirkland was sent to prison in 2009, he was considered an almost sure thing to win a title in the junior middleweight division. And if he is anything nearly as good as he was, Kirkland could wind up dominating the entire junior middleweight division before long. He would obviously to have a couple of tune-up fights before being thrown back in with the top fighters in the division but he’s young enough where the time off from the ring might not have hurt him too badly.

Kirkland is probably still is an awesome puncher and if he can use his smothering pressure style offense against the current crop of top light middleweights, he will likely sail through them and win a title before long. Kirkland’s biggest competition now is Sergio Martinez, Alfredo Angulo, Paul Williams and Sergiy Dzinziruk. Those four appear to be the best in the division. Williams might be tough for Kirkland if he’s unable to take Williams out, because Kirkland might fade if he’s forced to throw a massive amount of punches for 12 rounds.

That might be asking a lot of Kirkland in the first year out of prison but I think Kirkland could be ready for a fighter like Williams by 2012. I still think Williams would be tough for him. I also think Martinez would be a hard fight as well, because he moves a lot and is good at making sluggers like Kirkland look bad. Kirkland would have to really cut off the ring on Martinez if he was to have any chance of beating him.

If Martinez were to be free to move around for 12 rounds, he’ll box Kirkland’s ears off and likely taunt him the whole time. It’s hard to say how good Kirkland is or was because before he went to prison, he was still mostly fighting fringe contenders and not real talented fighters like Martinez, Williams and Dzinziruk. I do think Kirkland would do well against Angulo. I think it would be a really tough fight but I see Kirkland winning that one in a war that would be tough on both fighters.