James Kirkland has issued a challenge.
If you think he has lmited boxing skills, challenge him to a fight. If you think you’re one of the world’s premiere fighters, give him a shot. If you think he’s got a weak chin, come and test it.
Kirkland, 27, is coming off his third straight knockout victory, which was November’s come-from-behind victory over fellow junior middleweight Alfredo Angulo. Going into the fight a prohibitive underdog, Kirkland (30-1, 27 knockouts) was floored 30 seconds into the bout, only to drop Angulo just before the bell ending the same round. He would go on to stop Angulo in the sixth.
At the time, Kirkland was just two fights removed from his only setback — a startling first-round knockout by feather-fisted Nobuhiro Ishida, who came in with only seven KOs within in a record of 26-6-2.
Prior to Ishida, Kirkland carried a perfect 25-0 record with 22 knockouts, having relocated from Texas and paired with Las Vegas-based Kenny Adams rather than his previous trainer, Ann Wolfe, after spending 18 months in prison for gun possession.
Under Adams, Kirkland scored consecutive first- and second-round stoppages of Ahsandi Gibbs and Jhon Berrio just 13 days apart in March of last year before being matched against Ishida in April.
