Saturday at Cancun, Mexico
James Kirkland TKO6 Alfredo Angulo
Junior middleweight
Records: Kirkland (30-1, 27 KOs); Angulo (20-2, 17 KOs)
Rafael's remark: If you follow boxing you knew there was no question that this would be a bombs away slugfest. Making action fights is not rocket science, so when you match guys like Kirkland, 27, of Austin, Texas, and Angulo, 29, of Mexico -- who know no other possible way to fight but to go straight ahead -- it can't help but be exciting. And this one sure was. Since they both began fighting regularly on HBO in 2008 and 2009, hardcore fight fans wanted to see this match. But both of their careers wound up hitting the skids. Kirkland laid off for two years, including 18 months in prison, split from longtime trainer Ann Wolfe and suffered a shocking first-round knockout loss to Nobuhiro Ishida in April in one of the upsets of the year. Angulo had an acrimonious split from promoter Gary Shaw (who this past summer finally worked out a deal to sell the contract to Golden Boy) and was deported and unable return to the U.S. He didn't fight for 13 months until knocking out a nobody in the first round in August.
So even though the Kirkland-Angulo match was not the big event it looked like it might be someday back in 2009, Golden Boy and HBO made the fight anyway as both guys looked to get their careers back on track. Despite all the issues they have had one thing remained the same