By Dan Ambrose: Once beaten junior middleweight contender Alfredo Angulo (20-1, 17 KO’s) puts his #2 ranking by the World Boxing Council on the line this Saturday night against the formerly highly hyped slugger James Kirkland (29-1, 26 KO’s) at the Centro de Cancun in Cancun, Quintana Roo, Mexico.

This is a fight that many boxing fans had been waiting for two years ago before Kirkland went to prison for a weapons violation in Texas. However, Kirkland has since lost a year of his career with his prison stint and was already knocked out earlier this year in a 1st TKO loss to Nobuhiro Ishida last April.

That loss has taken a lot of the excitement out of the Angulo-Kirkland fight. To be sure, it’s still a mouth-watering fight because both fighters are all action packed sluggers. However, Kirkland was badly exposed in the loss to Ishida for having a weak chin Kirkland hasn’t taken any chances since then, facing 3rd tier opposition to pick up two quick wins.

It’s a risky thing to go from facing low quality fights like the ones that Kirkland has been facing to that of taking Angulo, who may be the best fighter in the junior middleweight division right now. What Kirkland needed to do is face Ishida in a rematch rather than taking on Angulo who is a big step up for Angulo from the guys he’s been fighting.

Kirkland’s people obviously are willing to take the risk of facing the dangerous Angulo because of the huge payoff it would mean for Kirkland if he’s able to win. If he loses then they can blame it on his year spent in prison which has rusted his skills to a large degree. But if Kirkland can win this fight, he’ll find himself ranking in the top five in the junior middleweight division and poised for a title shot against one of the champions like Saul Alvarez.