James Kirkland and Alfredo Angulo reenacted Stone Age festivities at the Centro de Cancun in Cancun, Mexico, last night over a handful of bloodthirsty rounds. A rampaging Kirkland survived an early knockdown to annihilate Angulo via crushing stoppage at 2:01 of the sixth round.
The carnage began almost immediately as Kirkland stormed out of his corner at the sound of the opening bell and initiated an exchange that drove Angulo across the ring. A counter right off the ropes sent Kirkland, 153, crashing less than a minute into the fight, and Kirkland looked like he was on his way to another first-round KO defeat. But he beat the count and tried his damnedest to survive as Angulo, 154, rained pitchforks on him without relent. On a few occasions it looked like referee Johnny Callas was about to step in to stop the slaughter, but Kirkland remained alert and began to score with a few well-placed counters.
Angulo, meanwhile, began to wilt from throwing so many punches, and, finally, his furious windmilling left him all but swaying. Fit as a fighter can possibly be after weeks of training with Ann Wolfe and her pickup truck, Kirkland, 27, began to hurt Angulo with sharp punches on the inside. With the round coming to a close, Kirkland drove Angulo back and hammered him to the canvas in his own corner with a combination as precise as it was violent. Although shaken, Angulo, 29, staggered to his feet almost instantaneously to take the mandatory eight. Fortunately?or unfortunately, depending on how you look at it?for Angulo, the bell sounded before Kirkland could inflict more damage.
In the second round, Angulo, Mexicali, Baja California, Mexico, looked as spry as one of the mummies of Guanajuato, and it was a ring miracle that he got through the round without crumbling into ashes. It was a lopsided round for Kirkland, who pummeled Angulo for three solid minutes and completely turned the fight in his favor. Apart from a few clubbing blows and the occasional body shot, Angulo never really threatened Angulo over the last four rounds of the fight. His wide blows, thrown with the speed of a man who had just been anesthetized, no longer carried any power behind them, and Angulo compounded his clumsiness by fighting exclusively as a southpaw. From this stance, Angulo could not connect with a straight right?one of his best offensive weapons?and could not generate the power needed to hurt Kirkland the way he did in the opening minute of the bout.
