By Dan Ambrose: A fleshy looking James Kirkland (32-1, 28 KOs) says he’s already started training camp for his fight against Mexican star Saul “Canelo” Alvarez (44-1-1, 31 KOs) on May 2nd at the Alamodome in San Antonio, Texas.
Kirkland, 30, looks like he’s going to need to make a significant part of his training camp a fat farm to drop weight, because he looks like he’s put on quite a bit of weight since he last fought over a year ago in December of 2013 against Glen Tapia.
By DA: Saul “Canelo” Alvarez (44-1-1 31 KO’s) will be facing slugger James “Mandingo Warrior” Kirkland (32-1-0 28 KO’s) on May 2nd in a HBO broadcast which will be non-PPV. The bout is subject to be rescheduled if the Floyd Mayweather Jr – Manny Pacquiao fight does get made.
Then the fight will be moved to a later date “out of respect for the fans” says Golden boy President Oscar De la Hoya. But in reality HBO won’t have two events on the same night because for the Mayweather-Pacquiao fight on HBO will be doing a joint PPV broadcast along with Showtime.
By Dan Ambrose: The May 2nd fight between former WBA/WBC junior middleweight champion Saul “Canelo” Alvarez (44-1-1, 31 KOs) and the ring rusty James Kirkland (32-1, 28 KOs) will be taking place at a catch-weight of 155 pounds instead of at the regulation weight of 154 for junior middleweight, according to Steve Kim.
The fight will essentially be another middleweight bout for the red-headed Canelo, who has fought his last two fights at 155 pound catch-weights against Erislandy Lara and Alfredo Angulo.
By Dan Ambrose: Golden Boy Promotions has obviously picked out slugger James Kirkland (32-1, 28 KOs) for their franchise fighter Saul “Canelo” Alvarez (44-1-1, 31 KOs) to fight on May 2nd in hopes that Kirkland will be another version of Alfredo Angulo for Canelo to look good against when they face each other on HBO from the Alamodome in San Antonio, Texas.
Kirkland, who isn’t fast, is a plodder like Angulo with good power, but he’s very easy to hit and he’s had chin problems in the past. The idea is for Canelo to meet him in center ring and use his superior hand speed to give Kirkland a beat down to make him look good again, which he hasn’t looked since the Angulo fight.
By Dan Ambrose: Former WBA/WBC junior middleweight champion Saul “Canelo” Alvarez (44-1-1, 31 KOs) will be fighting soon to be 31-year-old James Kirkland (32-1, 28 KOs) in his next fight at a still to be determined date and venue.
Oscar De La Hoya says Canelo is pleased to be fighting Kirkland because he wants a guy that won’t be running from him in the ring when they square off. Canelo, 24, wasn’t pleased in his fights against Floyd Mayweather Jr and Erislandy Lara because he feels that these two fighters ran from him in the ring.
By Dan Ambrose: Golden Boy Promotions president Oscar De La Hoya says the fight between Golden Boy promoted Saul “Canelo” Alvarez (44-1-1, 31 KOs) and the one-time popular James Kirkland (32-1, 28 KOs) is a done deal. There still isn’t a specific date for the fight, but it’s well-known that the red-haired Canelo wants the fight to take place on May 2nd, the Mexican holiday Cinco de Mayo.
Whether Canelo gets that date depends largely on if Floyd Mayweather Jr fights Manny Pacquiao next or not. The venue for the Canelo-Kirkland fight that is being talked about is the Alamodome in San Antonio, Texas.
By Dan Ambrose: A fight between former WBA/WBC junior middleweight champion Saul “Canelo” Alvarez (44-1-1, 31 KOs) and James Kirkland (32-1, 28 KOs) is in the works for May 2nd on HBO from San Antonio, Texas, according to Lance Pugmire of the Los Angeles Times.
The Canelo-Kirkland negotiations are in the advanced stages. This is an obvious move by the red-headed Canelo to get the May 2nd date before Mayweather wraps up negotiations with Mayweather for the same date.
By Dan Ambrose: Golden Boy Promotions president Oscar De La Hoya is saying that James Kirkland (32-1, 28 KOs) is a potential opponent for former WBA/WBC junior middleweight champion Saul “Canelo” Alvarez (44-1-1, 31 KOs) for his fight on December 6th at the Alamodome, in San Antonio, Texas, according to Dan Rafael of ESPN.
Kirkland was thought to be out of the picture for the 24-year-old Canelo after he’d agreed to fight Gabriel Rosado. But with that fight falling part due to Kirkland not happy with the money for the fight, it now leaves him as a possibility for the red-haired Canelo to fight.
By Dan Ambrose: The James Kirkland vs. Gabriel Rosado fight is now off of the November 8th undercard of the Bernard Hopkins vs. Sergey Kovalev card, according to Dan Rafael of ESPN. The fight was never officially finalized to start with. In place of the Kirkland-Rosado fight will possibly be welterweight contenders Luis Carlos Abregu and Sadam Ali facing off.
“Kirkland out of the Rosado fight on BHop-Kovalev card,” Rafael said on his twitter. “New fight likely Abregu vs. Sadam Ali. [Top Rank vs. GB].”
By Jesse James: American slugger James Kirkland was the front runner to being Saul “Canelo” Alvarez’s next opponent on December 6th. Kirkland was also being considered for Erislandy Lara who recently lost to Canelo Alvarez via split decision. Though Kirkland was definitely Canelo’s first choice, Kirkland’s team was reportedly not interested in Canelo or Lara.
Instead they opted for journeymen Gabriel Rosado who is a tough costumer and has had the bad end of decisions in his last few fights before Bryan Vera. Kirkland is an American favorite and has a very good trainer in Anne Wolf.