On Dec 7th we will see the return of the man who calls himself the Mandingo Warrior, James Kirkland. Kirkland has been inactive for about two years due to legal issues involving his contract and promoter, with that taken care of he is set for his return. With his new promoter, 50 cent, comes a new trainer, Bob Santos who trains Robert Guerrero. It is tough to know what kind of shape Kirkland is in both mentally and physically, after his last bout against awkward tough guy Carlos Molina, Kirkland claimed that his corner gave him some mysterious black pills that disabled him during the fight. Even though his post fight drug test came back negative, Kirkland maintained this conspiratorial attitude and consequently fired his team. The last time Kirkland had a new trainer he looked less than mediocre against less than mediocre opposition, having difficulty making weight and even beating lesser opponents. He then went on to get totally demolished in one round by the light punching Nobuhiro Ishida. After this embarrassing loss, Kirkland made up with his former trainer Ann Wolfe and the two came back against hard punching mexican warrior Alfredo Angulo. Kirkland looked in top form, despite a first round knockdown, and dismantled the hard nosed Angulo in 6, knocking him down for the first time in his life. So, with a new trainer I have to assume Kirkland will not be the same man he was with Ann Wolfe, history shows that he is less of a fighter without her in his corner. He has about 2 years of ring rust and his mental stability is in question, so perhaps the layoff did good for him.
Kirkland will be facing Glen Tapia, an undefeated, and yet to be tested, up and comer. I doubt very much that Tapia will be intimidated by Kirkland as everything seems to be working against him coming into this bout. New trainer, tons of ring rust, and questionable mental stability may all play a part in Tapia pulling off the upset as Kirkland will still likely be the favorite here.
In my personal opinion Kirkland without Ann Wolfe is nothing special and we could have seen signs of his downfall in the Molina fight. However it is difficult to tell because Molina gives everyone problems and makes everyone look bad, and Kirkland only won that fight because Molina was DQ'd when his corner entered the ring before the bell rang.
I am not even going to go through what should happen, what could happen, and what I think will happen, I am just going to call it. I think Tapia is going to beat up Kirkland and it likely goes to the cards. They are either putting Kirkland in with this guy because he is easy pickings or because the only thing Kirkland has anymore is his reputation which will boost the relatively unknown Tapia onto the boxing radar. Being that Kirkland's behavior has been quite erratic I am assuming nobody really wants to work with him, so they are tossing him in against Tapia as a make or break fight. If Tapia loses then its no big deal for Top Rank, but if he wins, then hey, Arum has a new guy on the block.
Kirkland has been as erratic in the ring as he has been outside it lately, sometimes he is a seemingly indestructible force that cannot be hurt, or even bruised, like against Joel Julio and Alfredo Angulo. Other times he is plodding forward unable to land punches, like against Molina, or getting obliterated by feather fisted Ishida. Kirkland is much too erratic for me to think he can come back from such a long layoff, with a questionable state of mind and new trainer, and just pick up where he left off. Especially looking so bad against Carlos Molina in his last outing.
Kirkland is not a huge puncher, he hits hard, but relies more on accumulative punishment than anything else. Assuming Tapia has a decent chin, he is probably going to pick Kirkland apart. He is a savvy boxer who doesn't mind mixing it up a bit. On top of being a pretty good boxer, he is hungry and probably not easy to discourage. I think he is likely going to put quite a damper on Kirkland's long awaited come back and its doubtful we will ever see the destructive force that boxing enthusiasts fell in love with again.
Call: Tapia UD10 (Stoppage is highly likely if the chinny Kirkland shows up)
UPDATE: So, I have read that Kirkland is definetly back with trainer Ann Wolfe for this comeback fight. This is one of the major reasons I believed that Kirkland would lose this fight, that coupled with so many other factors, but that being the main one. Tonite we will find out of any of this has negatively affected him or not, but having Wolfe in his corner is huge. Now I am not so sure how to call this fight, but I am still going with my original call.
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