Raise your hand if you thought James Kirkland was all but finished as a legitimate contender after he was stopped in one round by light-punching Nobuhiro Ishida in April.
That?s a lot of hands.
Yes, Kirkland surprised a lot of people when he turned in a fight-of-the-year candidate by knocking out veteran contender Alfredo Angulo in the sixth round on Saturday in Cancun, Mexico, thereby reclaiming his place among the sport’s potential stars.
Of course, we don?t want to get carried away. Kirkland deserves credit for a spectacular performance — the kind of performance that begets stars — but things might?ve turned out differently had Angulo not punched himself out after he put Kirkland down in the first round.
We?ll have to see Kirkland beat Angulo again or take down another big-name opponent or two before we become true believers.
However, he did more than enough on Saturday to re-enter the junior middleweight ratings.
RING RATINGS UPDATE
Heavyweight: No. 9 Chris Arreola retained his position after taking out journeyman Raphael Butler in three rounds Saturday in Mexico.
Cruiserweight: No. 5 Denis Lebedev had no trouble with a faded James Toney on Friday in Russia. On Saturday, in Hollywood, Fla., No. 10 Guillermo Jones stopped Michael Marrone in six rounds to retain the WBA strap. Lebedev and Jones stay put.
Light heavyweight: No. 10 Ismayl Sillakh knocked out unrated Ali Ismailov in the fourth round on the Lebedev-Toney card to retain his position.
