James Kirkland, one of boxing's biggest punchers and most exciting young fighters returns on Saturday night to face a dangerous opponent in Carlos Molina (HBO, 10:15 p.m. ET).
A 28-year-old Texas native, Kirkland stands at 30-1 with a dazzling 27 knockouts. Ten of those came in the first round. His reputation for all-action, high-volume punching and devastating power, he has drawn some comparisons to Mike Tyson, even though he fights in the middleweight division. His strength and stamina comes from a grueling and unorthodox training regimen with trainer Ann Wolfe.
"We don't neglect when it comes to the training part," Kirkland said. "[This camp] was just sticking to the same stuff but adding more tricks to the trade, more to the conditioning part. We just come out, have a good time and hard work pays off."
Kirkland was an undefeated up-and-comer ready for a title shot when he suffered a first-round knockout at the hands of Nobuhiro Ishida, a major underdog coming into their fight last year. From there, Kirkland regrouped, got back with Wolfe, with whom he had had a falling out before the Ishida fight, and rolled through his next two opponents.
Then came a stiff test against hard-punching Alfredo Angulo in November 2011. Kirkland was dropped by a vicious right just 30 seconds into the fight. It appeared as though a repeat of the Ishida fight was coming, but Kirkland rebounded and floored Angulo to end the first round. In what what would become a fight of the year candidate, Kirkland controlled the remainder of the fight and scored a sixth-round TKO. While some may have seen it as an ego boost after the Ishida loss, Kirkland says it was simply business as usual.
"There's no such thing as a confidence level,” Kirkland said. “I've been fighting since six years old, so after coming off the loss to Ishida, I knew what I did and what I didn't do as far as training camp and I didn't do me as far as training camp, so that's why I say that you learn from your mistakes and now I'm continuing to go forward in what I've always been doing."
Saturday's fight with Molina is a semifinal eliminator. The winner will face undefeated Vanes Martirosyan for the right to fight for a title. Kirkland's eyes are squarely set on that prize, as it is one that has eluded him for his whole career.
"I'm hoping to get a world title shot,” he said. “They have all these expectations and things that they say they want to happen, but that's what I've been training for, for a long time and they say you beat this person and you beat that person and then you've got a shot. Those people get beat and I'm still sitting here wondering why I haven't fought for a world title yet. I'm one of the fighters that has 30-something fights that hasn't fought for a title yet, it's kind of crazy to me, but it's a good way to stay motivated."
Will Kirkland get that title shot? That is unknown, but what is for certain is that, as always, those who tune in to see Kirkland will see fireworks on Saturday night.
"I'm a contact fighter. I can box, I can bang, I can press, I can do it all,” Kirkland said. “I come to fight and most definitely, it's going to be bloody. If they like blood and contact, then this is the fight to watch."
