By Eric Thomas: HBO is hoping to televise a huge fight card on November 5th, possibly headlined by a clash between junior middleweight sluggers Alfredo Angulo (20-1, 17 KO’s) vs. James Kirkland (29-1, 26 KO’s) with light welterweight contenders Humberto Soto vs. either Lucas Matthysse or Michael Katsidis winding up as the co-main event. Erislandy Lara also on the card.

Angulo, 29, had been hoping to fight unbeaten Vanes Martirosyan after the World Boxing Council ordered the fight. However, Martirosyan opted not to take that fight, leaving Angulo, ranked number #2 by the WBC, looking in another direction. Angulo wants to fight WBC light middleweight champion Saul Alvarez, but he’ll need to wait until at least 2012 to get a shot against him. In the meantime, a fight against Kirkland is an excellent fight.

Kirkland likes to slug and will be right in front of Angulo all night long making it easy for him. Angulo has problems against fighters that move a lot and box, but Kirkland won’t be doing any of that. Kirkland was stopped recently by Nobuhiro Ishida in a 1st round knockout last April. Ishida was too fast for Kirkland and came out and blitzed Kirkland with a flurry of shots in the opening seconds of the 1st round, knocking Kirkland down three times before it was stopped. Angulo doesn’t have Ishida’s speed but he is a bigger puncher so we may be seeing Kirkland getting stopped again.

Former WBC lightweight champion Soto, 31, recently moved up to the light welterweight division and is already ranked at number #1 by the WBA without even having fought at the weight. If he’s matched against Katsidis, you would have to favor Soto because of his ability to box as well as slug. But if they put him in with Matthysse, it could be a very tough fight for Soto because Matthysse hits a lot harder than the guys that Soto has been matched against during his 14-year pro career. Soto likes to slug and is there to be hit. Matthysse could be a very tough first fight for Soto at this weight. Soto might have to move a lot to get a win over Matthysse.