Will Canelo still be effective when he officially moves to middleweight?

canelo788By Dan Ambrose: Saul “Canelo” Alvarez (44-1-1, 31 KOs) will be fighting his third consecutive fight at middleweight this Saturday night, on May 9th, against James Kirkland (32-1, 28 KOs) at the Minute Maid Park in Houston, Texas.

While Canelo says he can still make the 154 pound division to continue to fight in the junior middleweight division, it’s hard to ignore that he’s had his last two fights against middleweight and will be facing Kirkland, 31, at middleweight as well. Granted, the three fights are at catch-weights of 155 pounds, but that is technically middleweight, not junior middleweight.

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Canelo Alvarez’s next fight this Saturday against Kirkland

canelo4566By Dan Ambrose: Mexicao’s Saul “Canelo” Alvarez (44-1-1, 31 KOs) will be fighting this Saturday night on May 9th on HBO Championship Boxing against James Kirkland (32-1, 28 KOs) at the Minute Maid Park in Houston, Texas.

This is a fight that Golden Boy Promotions President Oscar De La Hoya is hoping the 24-year-old Canelo will look good against because he plans on having Canelo’s next fight on pay-per-view in likely September against WBC middleweight champion Miguel Cotto.

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Canelo ready to go 12 rounds with Kirkland if he has to

LOS ANGELES (April 22) – Mexican superstar Canelo Alvarez (44-1-1, 31 KOs) and Texas knockout artist James “Mandingo Warrior” Kirkland (32-1, 28 KOs) participated in an international media conference call on Tuesday, April 21 to discuss their upcoming 12-round super welterweight bout set for May 9 at Minute Maid Park in Houston. The super welterweight fight will also be televised live on May 9 on HBO World Championship Boxing ® at 9:00 p.m. ET/PT.

Canelo and Kirkland were joined by Oscar De La Hoya, President and Founder of Golden Boy Promotions; Curtis “50 Cent” Jackson, Chairman and CEO of SMS Promotions; Chepo Reynoso, manager and co-trainer for Canelo Alvarez; Eddy Reynoso, head trainer for Canelo Alvarez; Bay Bay McClinton, strength and conditioning trainer for James Kirkland; Mike Battah, President of Leija*Battah Promotions; and Jesse James Leija, Texas boxing legend and Founder of Leija*Battah Promotions on today’s media conference call. Below is what they had to say:

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Canelo says he has right game plan for Kirkland fight

canelo5556By Dan Ambrose: #1 WBC, #2 WBA junior middleweight contender Saul “Canelo” Alvarez (44-1-1, 31 KOs) feels confident that his team has put together the perfect game plan to defeat the rusty 2nd tier fighter James Kirkland (32-1, 28 KOs) in 18 days from now on May 9th at the Minute Maid Park, in Houston, Texas, USA.

Kirkland hasn’t fought since beating Glen Tapia in 2013. That’s a nice two year layoff. The casual fans have no clue about Kirkland being out of action for two years. Few casual fans are aware of that. A layoff like that will definitely give the 24-year-old Canelo a huge advantage in this fight.

Canelo says he has a great strategy to beat Kirkland. It’s pretty easy to predict it will be. You’ve got a fighter in Kirkland who hasn’t fought in two years, and he’s had to take off close to 50 pounds of blubber in slightly less than three months’ time.

It seems logical that Canelo will look to push a fast pace after the first four rounds go by to try and wear what will likely be a weight-drained and very rusty Kirkland down.

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Canelo could have problems against Kirkland, says Rios

canelo5556By Dan Ambrose: Former WBO lightweight champion Brandon Rios think Saul “Canelo” Alvarez (44-1-1, 31 KOs) in could be in for a tough time in his fight against James “Mandingo Warrior” Kirkland (32-1, 28 KOs) in their fight on May 9th next month at the Minute Maid Park, Houston, Texas, USA. Rios still sees the Kirkland fight as a dangerous one for the 24-year-old Canelo despite the fact that Kirkland hasn’t fought in over a year, and has put on a lot of weight with his time out of the ring.

Rios expects Kirkland to be the same dangerous fighter that has always been. That might be asking a lot of a fighter who has only fought a handful of times in the last four years of his career.

On the face of it, Canelo looks to have been matched against someone that his promoters at Golden Boy Promotions think he can beat. They didn’t match him again with Erislandy Lara to clear up the controversy surrounding the decision that Canelo won last year in July.

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Kirkland ready to bring it against Canelo on May 9th

CaneloKirklandSAPC_Hoganphotos4(Photo Credit: HoganPhotos/Golden Boy Promotions) By Dan Ambrose: For the first time in Saul “Canelo” Alvarez’s boxing career he’ll be facing a puncher with power equal to his own when he faces James Kirkland (32-1, 28 KOs) in their catch-weight fight at 155 pounds on May 9th at the Minute Maid Stadium in Houston, Texas.

This is a fight that would have been a tossup had it taken place six years ago when Kirkland was fighting on a regular basis, but he now only fights infrequently. He’s gotten heavy and he hasn’t fought since December 2013 when he beat Glen Tapia by a 6th round TKO. Still, it’s difficult to really predict how Kirkland will do against Canelo, because it’s a fight that could very well go Kirkland’s way if he’s in shape and sharp.

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Kirkland is a risky opponent for Alvarez because of his surgically operated on shoulder

Image: Kirkland is a risky opponent for Alvarez because of his surgically operated on shoulderBy Jason Kim: If Golden Boy Promotions ends up using James Kirkland as the replacement opponent to face their up and coming star WBC junior middleweight champion Saul Alvarez for his next fight on September 15th on pay per view, Golden Boy might regret it if Kirkland’s recent surgically operated on right shoulder gets further injured in training for the fight.

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