By Rahil Sheikh: Japanese Middleweight Nobuhiro Ishida only needed just under two minutes of the first round to dispose of the highly regarded James Kirkland, in what turned out to be major upset at the MGM Grand, Las Vegas, Nevada.
Ishida (23-6, 8 KOs) landed clean shots right from the start, knocking down Kirkland early on in the round, in what appeared to be a flash knockdown.
However Ishida wasted no time pouncing on Kirkland straight away and backing him up against the ropes eventually sending Kirkland crashing to the canvas for the second time.
This time 27-year-old Kirkland looked hurt and clearly dazed but managed to get up on his feet, only to be met by a devastating combination from Ishida dropping Kirkland for the third and final time as Referee Joe Cortez called a halt to the fight.
James Kirkland (27-1, 24 Kos) was adamant he was able to continue and felt the fight ended prematurely.
“I don’t know why they stopped the fight”, said Kirkland after the fight. He continued; “I wasn’t hurt. He doesn’t have any power. I was ready to fight.”
35-year-old Ishida came from a Japan that recently suffered a major natural disaster said: “I fought with Japan on my side and now I’m ready for a title shot”
Seeing Kirkland put down three times – and eventually beaten in the first round, amazed fans at the MGM Grand, who thought this would be a another routine victory.
Kirkland was expected to walk through Ishida on his comeback trail after being incarcerated for 18 months for possessions of a firearm. It appears that the 2 years of inactivity finally caught up with him.
Comments are closed.