
A crucial fight in the junior middleweight division looks to be set as rejuvenated James Kirkland is in line for a crack a streaking Chicago, Ill. native Carlos Molina on January 28th of next year on HBO’s Boxing After Dark.
Kirkland is coming off of a dramatic come-from-behind victory Alfredo Angulo in Cancun, Mexico that saw him rise off the canvas in the first round before scoring a knockdown of his own and rallying to secure a sixth-round TKO. That win erased the bitter taste of Kirkland?s embarrassing first-round knockout loss unheralded Nobuhiro Ishida in April and he is once again a hot commodity in the sport.
Molina was an afterthought heading into 2011 but returned from a 21-month spell of inactivity to battle talented Cuban southpaw Erislandy Lara to a draw in late March. He followed that fight up with two more victories in the span of ten weeks? time, the latest being a notable upset over former champion Kermit Cintron that saw Molina simply walk through him for ten rounds.