Kirkland thinking big after victory
"I understand people thinking that," Kirkland told SI.com. "But there was no way that punch was keeping me down."
Indeed, Kirkland survived the knockdown shot -- and the subsequent flurry by Angulo that had referee Johnny Callas taking a long look at stopping the fight -- and then, somehow, rallied. For all of his power, Angulo lacked the stamina to finish Kirkland off. When Angulo started to slow down, Kirkland fired back. Soon, it was Angulo on the defensive. With 15 seconds to go in the round, Kirkland dropped Angulo with a pair of brain rattling left hooks that, Kirkland says, Angulo never recovered from.
"I knew for a fact that when he came out for the second round, he was not the same fighter," Kirkland said. "My knockdown hurt him. His knockdown startled me more than anything else. When I got hit I just said to myself, 'James, what are you doing? Stay focused, calm down and relax.'"
While the knockdown didn't hurt him, Kirkland said the series of body shots Angulo followed up with nearly ended the fight.
"He has sneaky body shots that you don't even see," Kirkland said. "I wanted him to go to the head. Those were some strong body shots. I kept trying to hold him because I knew if kept standing in front of those shots it would be trouble for me. I stayed away just long enough to get myself back together."
When he did, Kirkland dominated. The next five rounds amounted to a slow execution, with Kirkland battering Angulo with vicious, punishing combinations. Over the final five rounds Kirkland landed 131 power shots, according to CompuBox, to just 24 for Angulo. He threw hard and he threw often: Over the first five rounds, Kirkland threw an average of 101 punches.
How did Kirkland go from looking up from the floor at Ishida to dominating one of the most feared junior middleweights in boxing? Training, specifically that of Ann Wolfe. Kirkland first started training with Wolfe when he was 9 years old. The two quickly developed chemistry, with Kirkland taking to -- and succeeding under -- Wolfe's hard-nosed training style. It didn't take long for an American with a television-friendly style to catch the eyes of the networks and by 2009 it appeared Kirkland was destined for stardom.
Then, it all unraveled. Kirkland, who was on parole for an armed robbery conviction in 2003, was busted for possession of a firearm. He was sentenced to 24 months in prison, during which time he had a falling out with Wolfe. When he got out, Kirkland moved to Las Vegas and trained with Kenny Adams. He won his first two fights before running into Ishida, a loss many felt would be unrecoverable.
Not Kirkland. Instead, he reconciled with Wolfe, moved back to Austin, Texas, and at 29 went back to work. Wolfe's training methods are unorthodox. Kirkland sparred in a 10-by-10-foot makeshift ring with a mattress-like bottom that, Kirkland said, "made it like walking with cowboy boots in the mud." He ran countless miles in the scorching Texas heat. He trained at all hours. On sparring days, he would go 18 rounds.
He did it all with Wolfe. Adams, 70, had the knowledge to teach Kirkland but lacked the physical ability to work with him. Kirkland needed that. When he ran, Wolfe was always nearby. When he trained, Wolfe was alongside him. When he ate, the 40-year-old Wolfe ate with him.
"You can always get training from a coach," Kirkland said. "You don't always have a person that is there and says, 'I'm going to do it with you.' Other coaches, they tell you to do certain things and they have a big soda and a hot dog in their hands. They tell you to do 50 pushups with a Mountain Dew. I need someone that's grinding with me. That's Ann. That's the type of motivation and training any person is going to need to get to the next level."
His career back on track, Kirkland is in a position to write his own ticket. There are not many big names at 154 pounds. Miguel Cotto is considered the biggest while Saul Alvarez is another rising star. Now that Kirkland is back in HBO's good graces, fighters will come to him. But Kirkland made his agenda clear: clean out the 154-pound division.
"I want to be the undisputed champ," Kirkland said.
That will, at some point, mean a showdown with Alvarez, Golden Boy Promotions' other prized prospect. Golden Boy CEO Richard Schaefer says Alvarez's handlers called him after the fight and said they wanted to face Kirkland. And while Schaefer's plan for Alvarez is an all-Mexican showdown with Julio Cesar Chavez Jr. early next year, he says a Kirkland fight won't be far behind.
For now, Kirkland will keep looking forward. He says a rematch with Ishida isn't out of the question, but titleholders Austin Trout and Cornelius Bundrage are more appealing.
"My mindset right now is to think big," Kirkland said. "The fans will love it if I take control of what I started. I will be the undisputed champion."
The Internet was buzzing last weekend with reports that representatives for Floyd Mayweather had reached out to 140-pound titleholder Erik Morales about a possible fight next May. The news was jolting, as just days before Mayweather's advisor, Leonard Ellerbe, told the media that Mayweather wanted to face Manny Pacquiao.
As best I can tell, the source of the reports was former Morales promoter Fernando Beltran, who informed Pacquiao's promoter, Bob Arum, that Mayweather had contacted Morales. However Morales's current promoter, Richard Schaefer, dismissed the reports.
"It was the first I have heard," Schaefer said. "There have been no discussions about Morales-Mayweather. As Leonard said, Floyd wants the biggest possible fight. Morales is not it. Fernando Beltran doesn't have anything to do with Morales anymore. He'd like to be sleeping on his doorstep, like he used to. But he is not going to be stealing Morales. We have a contract with him. Beltran, he is like a desperado. He is losing all of his fighters. Chavez Jr. wants to leave him. Bunch of fighters want to leave him. He is desperate."
The world has lost a great champion. I will always remember Joe with respect and admiration.--Muhammad Ali on former heavyweight champion Joe Frazier, who lost his battle with liver cancer on Monday.
At 150 [pounds], yes--Freddie Roach (@FreddieRoach) responding to a question about a possible fight between Manny Pacquiao and middleweight champion Sergio Martinez. Martinez has said he would be willing to drop to 150 to fight Pacquiao.
10. As good as Kirkland-Angulo was, Showtime's super middleweight title fight between Lucian Bute and Glen Johnson was equally bad. Bute and Johnson, longtime friends and former sparring partners, are just bad matches. Bute dominated Johnson from the outside but was never able to press the action. Johnson, meanwhile, seemed content to flick a soft jab most of the night. Worse, Johnson said afterwards he believed he won the fight. Bute will move on to bigger things -- a matchup with the Super Six winner will be a huge fight -- while Johnson should seriously consider retiring. At 42, he just doesn't seem to have enough left to win a significant fight.
9. Been hearing that HBO's interest in producing a smaller, ShoBox-type of show next year is waning. The problem is, former top exec Ross Greenburg already cut deals with Golden Boy, Gary Shaw and Lou DiBella, guaranteeing each promoter three fights apiece (at around $150,000 a show) next year. If HBO does can the show, they will have to find some way to compensate the promoters for those dates.
8. In 1996, Rustico Torrecampo handed Manny Pacquiao his first loss. Now, Pacquiao is paying Torrecampo's legal bills.
7. Edwin Rodriguez can call Kelly Pavlik out all he wants but Pavlik isn't going near him until he has a few fights under his belt.
6. Peter Quillin, who stopped Craig McEwan on the Kirkland-Angulo undercard on Saturday, is only one or two fights away from being a serious opponent for Sergio Martinez.
5. Less than four weeks to go and Robert Helenius still doesn't have an opponent.
4. Andre Berto is relinquishing his IBF welterweight title, Lou DiBella told me on Tuesday, primarily because HBO has no interest in buying a Berto-Randall Bailey title defense. Now on one hand, I'm OK with this: by putting the kibosh on Berto-Bailey, it opens the door for Berto-Victor Ortiz II. The first fight was one of the best of 2011 and a rematch promises equal fireworks. On the other hand, I'm curious why HBO would pass on Bailey. Bailey doesn't have a glistening record (42-7) but he is a heavy-handed puncher (36 knockouts) with an entertaining style. I'm even more curious because HBO seems perversely interested in Devon Alexander-Paulie Malignaggi, a fight that is almost guaranteed to be terrible. DiBella was upset when I spoke with him, mostly because he couldn't understand why Berto-Bailey was shot down and Alexander-Malignaggi (two fighters promoted by Golden Boy) was in the works. "Why does there appear to be an unequal playing field," DiBella said. "I'm curious why there is a double standard." DiBella said he was pushing for Bailey to land the spot on the televised undercard and fight for the vacant IBF title against Carson Jones.
3. Love Top Rank President Todd duBoef's idea to set aside $100,000 of the fighters' purse and award it to the winner. Too many times fighters have come to the ring just to collect a check.
2. Retire, James Toney. Please, please, please retire.
1. Call me crazy, but even though Denis Lebedev has now beaten Toney and Roy Jones, I wouldn't mind seeing him in with Antonio Tarver. Tarver looked very good in stopping Danny Green in July. He went to Australia then, would he go to Russia now?
