By Jim Dower: Junior middleweight contender James Kirkland (30-1, 27 KO’s) will be looking to put in another impressive performance when he faces the red-hot Carlos Molina (19-4-2, 6 KO’s) this Saturday night at the Reliant Arena in Houston, Texas. Kirkland, 28, will be coming into the fight with a big power advantage over Molina. However, it might not matter that Kirkland has the better power if his weak chin fails him again like it did last year when he was blown out by the quick but light hitting Nobuhiro Ishida last April.
Kirkland was also down in his last fight against Alfredo Angulo in the 1st round, but was able to come back from the knockdown to get a stoppage when Angulo faded badly from punching himself out in the same round.
Molina is a tough cookie. He arguably should have gotten wins his two fights with Julio Cesar Chavez Jr., and in his fight against Mike Alvarado and Erislandy Lara as well. Molina is fighting at a very high level right now and he’s not someone that Kirkland will be able to blow out without being severely tested.
I see this fight coming down to whether or not Kirkland can get Molina out in the first six rounds. If he doesn’t get a stoppage by the 6th round, Kirkland is going to have a real tough time on his hands. His promoters have done him a huge favor by making this a 10 round fight rather than a 12 rounder, because if he always starts fast and builds up big leads. With 10 rounds, Kirkland will likely have enough rounds under his belt in the first part of the fight to squeak through and win by a close 10 round decision if Molina comes on in the 2nd half of the fight and batters him at will. But as weak as Kirkland’s chin is, if Molina pounds him for any length of time and lands shots on the button, Kirkland will likely get stopped.
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