James Kirkland

By Nate Anderson: Hard-punching undefeated light middleweight contender James Kirkland (22-0, 19 KOs) made short work of his Nigerian opponent Eromosele Albert (21-2, 10 KOs), stopping him in the 1st round to win the vacant WBO NABO light middleweight title on Saturday night at the Buffalo Bills Hotel, in Primm, Nevada. Fighting on the same card as light middleweight prospect Alfredo Angulo and super featherweight sensation Yuriorkis Gamboa, the 24 year-old Kirkland seemed to make the biggest statement of three with his stunning 1st round TKO of the veteran Albert, knocking him down twice in the process.

Kirkland, known for his fast knockouts of his opponents, came out on fire in the first round, immediately taking the fight to Albert and hitting him with hard lefts to the head. Albert, 33, hardly had time to throw one right hand before suddenly being knocked to the canvas with a right-left combination from Kirkland. Albert never saw the second punch, the left hand, coming for he looked surprised as laid there on the canvas bleeding from his forehead. He got up, staggered around, blinking his eyes hard and appearing very hurt.

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By Eric Thomas: Undefeated light middleweight contender James Kirkland (21-0, 18 KOs) faces his toughest test to date this Saturday night against the hard-punching Nigerian fighter Eromosele Albert (21-1, 10 KOs) in a bout for the vacant WBO NABO light middleweight title at the Buffalo Bills Hotel, in Primm, Nevada. Kirkland, 24, is coming off an exciting action packed bout with Allen Conyers in November 2007, a bout in which both fighters traded first round knockdowns before Kirkland’s superior power eventually took over and he was able to stop him later in the round with another knockdown. Since turning professional in 2001, it has been only in the past year that Kirkland has started to build a name for himself with victories over Billy Lyell, Ossie Duran, Mohammed Said and the aforementioned Conyers.

Most of the fights have been shown on ESPN, which has allowed a fairly substantial viewing public to see Kirkland fight. After watching his fight with Lyell, an 8th round TKO, l in February 2007, I can see why Kirkland has been getting so much television coverage. He goes right after his opponents from the opening bell in a style somewhat reminiscent of a Tough Man contest in which both fighters forgo any thoughts of defense while they try to take each other out as quickly as possible. In Kirkland’s case, he has a lot of skills and tremendous power to go with his high pressure style of fighting, which makes him much more appealing than the average fighters that are generally shown on cable.

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