BoxRec

How bad is it?

It's decent, I'd say. He takes dome hellacious shots without going down at times. He got caught cold against Ishida and just took too much to the body and head from Canelo, shots he couldn't prepare for. A lot of guys would have been done in that first round.

It's not bad, but not particularly great. He's slow, reckless and has little to no defense, that's his problem.

Bobbyptsd wrote:It's decent, I'd say. He takes dome hellacious shots without going down at times. He got caught cold against Ishida and just took too much to the body and head from Canelo, shots he couldn't prepare for. A lot of guys would have been done in that first round.

It's not bad, but not particularly great. He's slow, reckless and has little to no defense, that's his problem.

The problem was that Kirkland was absolutely made to order for Canelo.

I think he showed his chin is ok, and imo better than a lot of fighters. He took some huge shots and didn't go down. I think it was the combination of body and head shots that were too much. Anyone that gets hit with that many big flush shots is going down. Kirkland just didn't have the skills to avoid them.

VG_Addict wrote:

Bobbyptsd wrote:It's decent, I'd say. He takes dome hellacious shots without going down at times. He got caught cold against Ishida and just took too much to the body and head from Canelo, shots he couldn't prepare for. A lot of guys would have been done in that first round.

It's not bad, but not particularly great. He's slow, reckless and has little to no defense, that's his problem.

The problem was that Kirkland was absolutely made to order for Canelo.

He had a style that suited him, yeah. That certainly played a part in the result.

Its not granite but he dont block any of the punches either.

It's very poor, especially when you consider how many have taken Canelo the full 12.

I thought Kirkland took a ton of big shots, quite a set of whiskers,IMO. What stood out to me is poor thinking when he absolutely never attempted to buy himself some time by holding on after the first several huge shots. He never bought himself a second of recovery time. I'm not sure if he's been in that position before but he clearly didn't know what to do in the storm.

If Kirkland had any semblance of a chin, he might be a champion.

He has limited defense but it's his inability to absorb punishment that really makes him a dangerous fringe contender at best. He could never beat the elite fighters.

Canelo usually doesn't blast guys out like that. But why bother being a cautious, thinking fighter when you're facing someone who staggers from a jab? Kirkland cooperated quickly because his jaw is a wet noodle.

Canelo could not stop Matthew Hatton who is a domestic/european career welterweight.

He landed bombs on him aswell. I'd say Kirkland chin is avergae at best.

Kirkland looks like a shot fighter to me. I think the cumulative damage from inside the ring and sparring has caught up with him. It seems his speech is a little slurred. May be time for him to hang it up. He has a decent career. If he does continue he needs to get back with Ann Wolfe or another trainer that would get the most out of him.

Aside from losses to the light-hitting Ishida and Alvarez, who as mentioned landed heavily on other fighters without nearly the same effect, he's been rocked multiple times by people without notable power. I'd consider Angulo to be a good puncher, but he put Kirkland down almost as soon as he landed so it's not as if James took several hard shots prior to being dropped.

He has shown decent recuperative powers at times but I think he's clearly fragile, at least early on.