If it was taking place on any other date, the May 9th encounter between Saul ‘Canelo’ Alvarez(44-1-1, 31KO’s) and James Kirkland(32-1, 28KO’s) would be on the proverbial front page of boxing. As it stands, their fight will trail Floyd Mayweather Jr vs. Manny Pacquiao -the longest awaited super-clash in decades- by one week. Still Canelo and Kirkland are likely to combust in very entertaining style, so to get a professional’s opinion on the fight Elie Seckbach got a hold of welterweight slugger Brandon Rios for his thoughts.
Canelo is three months shy of his twenty-fifth birthday. He would be considered a young man in almost any setting but especially so when trading gloved blows with battle-hardened veterans such as Kirkland, who happens to attack each of his foes in edacious fashion, constantly punching. Rios feels that even though Canelo is coming into this bout on a wave of positive momentum, this is a task to be taken seriously.
“It’s a dangerous fight for Canelo, Kirkland can crack. If he catches him with that one shot he can hurt Canelo, but we don’t know how Canelo’s jaw has been taking a punch from a real puncher.”
The Mexican sensation has rarely had to endure heavy fire from any of his previous 46 opponents, but the likelihood of him having to ride out a few storms this time have increased drastically given Kirkland’s nature. He is slowly edging his way up to the middleweight division after two 155.lb. Catchweight appearances, and as his weight increases so do his chances of taking full-blooded punches from physically imposing guys. He has shown improving defensive skills as of late, especially with slipping and weaving out of the way of punches. Whether he can do that against a volume puncher of this quality remains to be seen, just like what happens would he take a clean one on the snout.
As for Kirkland, Rios has echoed the belief of fellow boxer J’Leon Love in that the absence of his long-term trainer Anne Wolfe from the corner for the biggest fight of his life will almost certainly work against him. Wolfe has forged a formidable reputation with unorthodox -some would say outright crazy- training techniques and a no-nonsense demeanour, qualities that have produced the best versions of Kirkland we’ve seen.
“I know without Anne Wolfe, he’s not the same James Kirkland as he was before. Anne Wolfe gives him that push and that little drive you know, he’s used to that in the corner.”
We can’t know yet whether his new team can drag the same bone-chilling performances out of him, like the brutal comeback KO win he scored over Alfredo Angulo in 2011. He has fitness coach Bay Bay McClinton as an integral part of the set-up, a man who has plenty of experience training elite athletes (albeit in different sports) so perhaps his new arrangement will work well for him. The timing may not be ideal, but Kirkland himself is a mean fighter through and through. If he shows up halfway prepared he’ll give us as good as he’s got for as long as he can.
