James Kirkland

Kirkland’s too rusty to beat Canelo, says Rosado

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kirkland22By Dan Ambrose: Former world title challenger Gabriel Rosado isn’t giving the soon to be 31-year-old James Kirkland (31-1, 28 KOs) much of a shot to beat former WBA/WBC junior middleweight champion Saul “Canelo” Alvarez (44-1-1, 31 KOs) in their fight on May 2nd at the Alamodome in San Antonio, Texas.

Rosado sees it as a fight that Canelo’s promoters at Golden Boy is trying to hype up as a competitive match-up due to Kirkland having a name, but he doesn’t see it as a bout where Kirkland has much of a chance of winning it due to the extensive ring rust he has.

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De La Hoya hopes Canelo vs. Kirkland breaks Chavez-Whitaker attendance record at Alamodome in San Antonio, TX

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canelo8By Dan Ambrose: Golden Boy Promotions president Oscar De La Hoya is hoping that his fighter Saul “Canelo” Alvarez’s fight against James Kirkland (32-1, 28 KOs) on May 2nd will break the long-standing record for attendance at the Alamodome in San Antonio, Texas. The date of the Canelo-Kirkland fight may change from the 2nd of May to the 9th, depending on whether the Floyd Mayweather Jr vs. Manny Pacquiao mega-fight takes place on May 2nd.

Canelo-Kirkland can’t take place on the same night on May 2nd as Mayweather-Pacquiao, because that pay-per-view broadcast will be televised on both HBO and Showtime. Unless Canelo wants to be a part of that card, he has pretty much no other choice but to fight on a different date, because it’s highly unlikely that HBO is going to televise two separate boxing cards on the same day on their network.

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De La Hoya: Canelo vs. Kirkland could draw 60,000 fans in Texas

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canelo99By Dan Ambrose: Golden Boy Promotions President Oscar De La Hoya is expecting a huge crowd for the May 2nd or 9th fight between former WBA/WBC light middleweight champion Saul “Canelo” Alvarez (44-1-1, 31 KOs) and James Kirkland (32-1-1, 28 KOs) in Texas.

De La Hoya thinks that as many as 60,000 boxing fans could show up for the fight, which De La Hoya doesn’t quite know where the fight will be taking place. I doubt that many fans will turn out for the Canelo-Kirkland fight. I hope De La Hoya isn’t pinning his hopes in the fight drawing that much, because it might blow his world if only 10,000 to 15,000 boxing fans shown up to purchase what will likely be heavily discounted tickets.

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De La Hoya expects Canelo-Kirkland fight to have fireworks on May 2nd or May 9th

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canelo888By Dan Ambrose: Golden Boy Promotions president Oscar De La Hoys is expecting his flagship fighter Saul “Canelo” Alvarez’s next fight against 31-year-old James Kirkland to be a huge one filled with a lot of slugging a ton of excitement when the two fighters face each other on May 2nd or May 9th at the Aladmodome in San Antonio, Texas.

The date of the Canelo-Kirkland fight still hasn’t been confirmed because De La Hoya is still waiting to see if the Floyd Mayweather Jr vs. Manny Pacquiao fight will get made for May 2nd.

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Kirkland won’t be trained by Wolfe for Canelo Alvarez fight

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kirkland334By Dan Ambrose: In what you have to see as a bad sign for the May 2nd clash between James Kirkland and Saul “Canelo” Alvarez, Kirkland reportedly won’t be trained by his long-time trainer Ann Wolfe for their fight at the Alamodome in San Antonio, Texas.

According to Fight Saga, Kirkland won’t be using Wolfe for the fight for unknown reasons. Instead of Wolfe, Kirkland will be trained by Gerald Tucker.

This is obviously a controversial move because the 30-year-old Kirkland’s best fights have been with Wolfe training him. When Kirkland fought without Wolfe training him in his 2011 fight against Japan’s Nobuhiro Ishiada, after Kirkland had been released from prison on a two-year stint for a weapon’s violation, a flabby Kirkland was blasted out in one round.

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Canelo vs. Kirkland on May 2nd or 9th at Alamodome, San Antonio, Texas

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canelo6767By Dan Ambrose: Golden Boy Promotions President Oscar De La Hoya has made it official about his fighter former WBA/WBC junior middleweight champion Saul “Canelo” Alvarez to be fighting James Kirkland at the Alamodome in San Antonio, Texas.

The dates of the fight will be either May 2nd or May 9, depending on whether the Floyd Mayweather vs. Manny Pacquiao goes ahead for May 2nd.

The idea of placing the fight at the Alamodome in San Antonio is obviously one where De La Hoya and Canelo are hoping to take advantage of the huge crowd that Canelo drew for his fight against Austin Trout in April of 2013.

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De La Hoya still insisting Canelo-Kirkland will take place on May 2nd unless Mayweather-Pacquiao fight happens

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delahoya7777By Dan Ambrose: Despite the Floyd Mayweather Jr vs. Manny Pacquiao fight likely to get made for May 2nd, Golden Boy Promotions President Oscar de La Hoya is still saying that he’s going to have his fighter Saul “Canelo” Alvarez (44-1-1, 31 KOs) fight the inactive James Kirkland (32-1, 28 KOs) on the same night unless Mayweather and Pacquiao actually takes place.

De La Hoya says Canelo-Kirkland fight will take place on 5/2 if Mayweather fights anyone else but Pacquiao. This means that De La Hoya and Canelo are willing to risk getting low ratings for his fight against Kirkland.

This obviously isn’t the smartest thing to do if your goal is to make the 24-year-old Canelo more popular, because right now he’s proven that he doesn’t have the popularity to bring in big pay-per-view numbers like Pacquiao and Mayweather.

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Canelo will beat Kirkland, says Marquez

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canelo56By Dan Ambrose: Mexican great Juan Manuel Marquez is picking former WBA/WBC junior middleweight champion Saul “Canelo” Alvarez (44-1-1, 31 KOs) to beat James Kirkland (32-1, 28 KOs) in their fight on May 2nd at the Alamodome in San Antonio, Texas.

Marquez doesn’t give his reasons for believing that the 24-year-old Canelo will beat Kirkland, but it probably has a lot to do with Canelo being the more active fighter, and Kirkland having to lose more than 40+ pounds to make the 155 pound catch-weight on May 2nd.

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Kirkland close to 200 pounds, says Rafael

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By Dan Ambrose: Former WBA/WBC junior middleweight champion Saul “Canelo” Alvarez’s scheduled opponent for May 2nd, James Kirkland (31-1, 28 KOs) is reportedly near 200 pounds for their catch-weight fight at 155 pounds, according to Dan Rafael of ESPN.com. If this weight is correct, then Kirkland is going to need to lose close to 45 pounds in a little over three months in order to make the 155 pound catch-weight.

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