Kirkland Victorious in Classic Battle!

Keith Terceira

James Kirkland (30-1, 27ko) traveled into enemy territory to upset Alfredo Angulo (20-2,17KO) last night in Cancun, Mexico. The first round of this matchup started as the normal Angulo round then progressed into an instant boxing classic.

Kirkland, who suffered his lone loss by first round TKO at the hands of light hitting Nobuhiro Ishida in March, first corrected the error of leaving the tutelage of former champion and trainer Ann Wolfe, and then in his stoppage of El Perro corrected the image that his chin and heart was suspect.

Angulo’s power was displayed quickly in the first round when Alfredo offered up a straight right hand that planted Kirkland on the seat of his pants less than a minute into the round.

For the next minute and a half Angulo pounded the Mandingo Warrior from corner to corner in what provided to be a futile attempt to land a finishing blow.

With the flip of a switch, the blink of an eye, Kirkland drew from an inner strength that he lacked without Wolfe in his corner, and as it became evident that Angulo had punched himself out, James began his comeback. Landing a combination of blows to the winded Angulo, Kirkland returned the favor and dropped Alfredo as he attempted to hang on to the rope for support.

From round two until the referee stopped the bout in the sixth, Kirkland continued to punish Angulo, walking thru the heavy armed Mexican warrior’s blows with a singular determination that this fight would end in only one fashion, someone was going down, and the judges would not decide Kirkland’s fate.

The key to Kirkland’s victory was his constant use of uppercuts and huge left hooks that starched El Perro every time it appeared that the warrior would gain a second wind and take back control. By the fifth round it was evident that Alfredo had miscalculated in the first two rounds and did not have the juice to survive the onslaught.

At 2:01 0f the six round, during yet another series of devastating combinations the referee had seen enough and stepped in to stop the bout before Angulo could suffer serious injury. There was no doubt in my mind that Angulo would have continued until he was dragged out of the ring by his feet.

What remains to be seen is what the next move by Kirkland’s management will be as this was such a battle that a second bout would gladly be one that this fan would pay PPV money to see.

Had not Angulo punched himself out in the first round this battle may have easily had a different outcome, and these two warriors could battle day in and day out with the victor changing at the end of each.