Kirkland vs Alvarez

[uptconnect]

Someone earlier said that Canelo is overrated, which may be somewhat true, since he's still a kid and is in line to be the next top cash cow-
But Kirkland is way more overrated than Canelo is- Not only has he been inactive for a long time, without Wolfe he's looked like garbage and by most accounts, only wants to train hard when he feels like it- Which is the only true he left Wolfe again, best believe.
Without Wolfe, a guy with almost negative KO power, a gust of air hits harder, even- f*cked Kirklands world around in a matter of minutes.
I hope Kirkland proves me wrong for selfish viewing reasons, but I doubt it.
Smart choice of opponent for Canelo. Name recognition, fan friendly style, more respected in the sport than what his actual accomplishments and life out of the ring warrant, and will be easy to showcase against.
Savvy matchmaking.

[ikorolev]

Funny: Kirkland's new trainers are Bay Bay McClinton and Rick Morones. I hope they are not literally morons, as he needed good trainers for this one.

[koolkc107]

I'll tell you what, if Kirkland put the work in the gym for this one and has his head screwed on straight then all of my money would be with him in this fight. The chances are slim that Kirkland put his work in though. He's clearly a troubled kid with a lifetime of troubles but living the protected life I have, who am I to judge a guy that rose to this success from such a disadvantaged life?

The truth is, Kirkland's has had 1 bad fight. Ishida caught him cold early and that was that. But the body of work is impressive and scary. Kirkland can clearly be knocked down but he'll be back and he'll get stronger and won't stop throwing. He's a bad dream for anyone.

Canelo has a lot of guts for taking the fights he's taken recently and I can't help loving this kid for it even though, i really don't think Canelo is that great of a fighter right now. This fight is going to be fought in a phone booth and the winner is going to have to dig deeper than he's ever dug. If Canelo wins this fight without any controversial cards or crazy situations happening, I would have to give him all the credit in the world. He's got balls, this kid.

My Prediction: Canelo's corner calls off the fight because he's taken too much damage. I do think that we see Canelo on the canvas for the first time in his career. Kirkland by TKO in round 10

Supposedly, one of the guys has been training James since he was 15 (off and on the ESPN article says). Yet, the same article says he went to Google to find these guys.

A Kirkland trained by Wolfe would have a chance to do some of the things you say because of her inhuman conditioning methods.

But we have seen James without Anne and it isn't pretty.

And it won't be tomorrow either.

[ikorolev]

Kirkland said that Wolfe is a great strength and conditioning coach, but is light on other aspects:

http://espn.go.com/boxing/story/_/id/12 ... challenges?

[koolkc107]

Kirkland said that Wolfe is a great strength and conditioning coach, but is light on other aspects:

http://espn.go.com/boxing/story/_/id/12 ... challenges?

That may be true but, knowing what Canelo can do in the ring and what Canelo's weakness might be, the best thing Kirkland could probably do is show up in fantastic shape.

Great shape to take the punishment Saul will dish out and the stamina and endurance to perhaps exploit Canelo running out of gas in the mid to late rounds.

Not working with Wolfe pretty much assures that we WONT see THAT Kirkland.

[Bobbyptsd]

I said it about Angulo,and I'll say it again about Kirkland: He's going to make Saul look fast, and that's quite an accomplishment.

Mid-rounds stoppage for Canelo after a one-sided beating.

[ikorolev]

Both weighed 154.5

[Impractical Poster]

To start trying to change Kirkland's style now is way too late. He should stick with what works. I mean, I think he should tune up some fundamentals, but work them behind the beastly condition and strength that was brought out in him with Wolfe. It was his incredible offensive attack that gave him wins over more fundamentally talented boxers.

[Impractical Poster]

Kirkland's got a pretty intimidating stare down.

[Badhusker]

Kirkland and the Anne Wolf thing is more than just a bit over-blown. If that is his source of mental toughness he is in trouble. I guess she wasn't there when he got KO'd in 1 by Ishe Smith or something? Sad excuse for not being prepared for the fight.

I see Kirkland as the perfect match-up for Canelo. He has had a very long lay-off, ballooned up to near 200 pounds, did a drastic weight cut. If you think he will have the stamina to compete late, you are mistaken....at least imo.

Canelo's team picked him as an opponent for that reason, just like they tried to line him up when he was still hurt a couple of years ago. The right trainer gets a hold of Kirkland, he may be a whole different animal. Not now though.

[caldo2025]

After watching the 24-7 yesterday on this fight, Kirkland is in trouble. Kirkland almost lost his shiit when the interviewer asked him about Wolf.

I think that the loss to Ishida had more to do about taking a guy lightly than it did about not having Wolf in the corner. He admitted that this is the first time that he's ever watched tape on a boxer that he's about to fight and that's only because Canelo has been in so many highly televised fights so far. So i think that he just walked into the ring that night knowing he's fighting an Asian fighter with an unimpressive record and got caught cold and didn't have a chance to fight through it. Though he was knocked down 3 times in that round, he was still going to beat the count and looked crazed when the fight was called by the ref.

What if Opie Alvarez beats Kirkland, do you think that there's any way we see a GGG/Alvarez fight before the end of the year? Canelo will clearly fight anyone on the planet.

[Badhusker]

It's possible that Canelo will fight GGG, but in my opinion not this year. My guess is that they will push hard to get the Cotto fight in the fall. If Floyd wants Cotto for his last fight, that probably won't happen. I personally would like to see him vs Andrade next, but have my doubts there too.

I wouldn't say Canelo is over-rated. I thought that before he fought Floyd, and think Floyd showed us all what level Canelo is on. Now he is rated as a emerging star that hopefully will get better with age. Very good, but not great yet. Opponents like Cotto, Andrade, and GGG will tell us a lot. We learned he has trouble with a boxers like Lara, and a southpaw like Trout. One thing about Canelo, he will never lose a close decision.

[Evander]

I don't think we are under any illusions to what James Kirkland's game plan will be, he's going for the ko as I'm sure Canelo is.
The early rounds should be good but I'm not entirely sure Kirland's chin will hold up for the duration, even though Canelo's boxing isn't of the highest standard he sure can hit.

[punchoutsb]

Canelo will win this one by late TKO. Not one sided, but never in doubt.

[Evander]

Canelo will win this one by late TKO. Not one sided, but never in doubt.

They can both hit but Canelo can take more than what he dishes out, don't think the same can be said of Kirkland.
Should be entertaining while it lasts though.

[kidbazooka1]

Canelo will win this one by late TKO. Not one sided, but never in doubt.

They can both hit but Canelo can take more than what he dishes out, don't think the same can be said of Kirkland.
Should be entertaining while it lasts though.

I dont know about that Kirkland took alot from Angulo who despute his lack of skill can crack.

The ishida loss was a straight fluke.

[Monte Fisto]

I said it about Angulo,and I'll say it again about Kirkland: He's going to make Saul look fast, and that's quite an accomplishment.

Mid-rounds stoppage for Canelo after a one-sided beating.

I think your right, I've already backed Canelo in 10 thru 12, but the closer it gets the more I fancy Canelo to take him out a lot sooner.

[Evander]

Canelo will win this one by late TKO. Not one sided, but never in doubt.

They can both hit but Canelo can take more than what he dishes out, don't think the same can be said of Kirkland.
Should be entertaining while it lasts though.

I dont know about that Kirkland took alot from Angulo who despute his lack of skill can crack.

The ishida loss was a straight fluke.

Yeah Angulo can hit I agree and Kirkland is tough no question about it.
But Canelo can hit and take a shot, Kirkland's heart is good but his chin is the concern.
Due to their styles I think most would agree it has the makings of a toe to toe scrap and who can take it will win.
I'm not counting James out but he's going to have to put Canelo under pressure for some time before he harvests results and although I have reservations about Canelo's boxing ability it's going to take something big to actually stop him.
In Kirkland favour is the style of Canelo, we have all seen what happens when Saul goes up against a pure bred boxer, Floyd, Trout and Lara all gave him problems.

[squiggy]

Canelo is overrated. He arguably lost to Trout and Lara. His best wins are against shot Mosley and Angulo. Kirkland can pose a problem for him.

But at the same time, credit to him for fighting those awkward guys.

[brilo33]

24/7 Kirkland vs Alvarez free view on allegedly now. sorry didnt know if i could name channels

[brilo33]

i think the only reason people say he is overrated, is because he has been made to live up to the next Mexican hype better then Oscar de la hoya. he is a good boxer in his own right

[amwsnw]

Did someone say the Matthyse v Provodnikov fight was awful, and fell below expectations ?? Thought it was one of the better slug-fests I've seen in the last few years. Absolute cracker. We are a funny bunch...criticize Floyd (many did, not finger pointing) for putting on a clinic and then call a Rocky style slug fest awful. Come please some people.

[brilo33]

Did someone say the Matthyse v Provodnikov fight was awful, and fell below expectations ?? Thought it was one of the better slug-fests I've seen in the last few years. Absolute cracker. We are a funny bunch...criticize Floyd (many did, not finger pointing) for putting on a clinic and then call a Rocky style slug fest awful. Come please some people.

i agree i thought Matthyse v Provodnikov was a mesmerizing fight, wanted Provodnikov in the end, you could feel Provodnikov pain when they read out Matthyse was the winner

[punchoutsb]

i think the only reason people say he is overrated, is because he has been made to live up to the next Mexican hype better then Oscar de la hoya. he is a good boxer in his own right

Honestly, I think he will end up bigger than people are even thinking now. He's young, and has already been in with the absolute best. Even though he clearly lost to Floyd, it'll forever be a MD loss to the p4p number one. He's building an awesome legacy and he's no where near 30 year.

[ikorolev]

i think the only reason people say he is overrated, is because he has been made to live up to the next Mexican hype better then Oscar de la hoya. he is a good boxer in his own right

Honestly, I think he will end up bigger than people are even thinking now. He's young, and has already been in with the absolute best. Even though he clearly lost to Floyd, it'll forever be a MD loss to the p4p number one. He's building an awesome legacy and he's no where near 30 year.

It was supposed to be a wide UD. One incompetent or corrupt judge can't change the fact that he was humiliated by a smaller out of prime boxer.