James Kirkland (boxer)

James Kirkland
Data
Birth Name	James Derick Kirkland
Fight name	Mandingo Warrior
Weight class	Light middleweight
nationality	US-american
birthday	March 19, 1984
place of birth	Austin
style	Legal display
size	1.75 m
Combat Statistics
Struggles	36
Victories	34
Knockout victories	30th
Defeats	2

James Derick Kirkland (born March 19, 1984 in Austin , Texas ) is an American professional light middleweight boxer. He has been trained by former world boxing champion Ann Wolfe , who is also from Austin, Texas, since he was nine .

Amateur career

Kirkland has boxed since he was six and won 134 of 146 fights as an amateur. He is a four-time winner of the youth tournament Silver Gloves and took part in the National Golden Gloves 2001 in Reno at the age of 17 in the elite class (adults) ; there he reached the final with wins against William Johnson, Steven Ham, Shamone Alvarez and Jose Moreno, where he was controversially defeated by James Parison and thus won the silver medal in the welterweight division.

For financial reasons he switched to the professional camp in 2001.

Professional career

Kirkland made his professional debut on August 25, 2001 in San Antonio with a tKo win in the third round against Maurice Chalmers from Virginia, who also made his professional debut. He remained undefeated in his next ten fights, winning eight times by knockout. He boxed in Las Vegas and Washington, DC , among others

His career was interrupted for the first time in late 2003 when he was found guilty of armed robbery and sentenced to six months' imprisonment and then six months of house arrest . He did not make his comeback until April 2006 in South Carolina with a tKo victory in the third round against Manny Castillo (13 wins - 11 losses).

He was then able to celebrate nine more wins, eight of them by knockout. He prevailed against Alexis Divison (16-4), Sherwin Davis (18-3), World Cup challenger Billy Lyell (14-3), Ossie Duran (24-5) and Mohamad Said (23-5), among others . He only had to go the full number of laps against Duran, but had his opponent on the ground in the first round.

On May 17, 2008 he boxed in Primm for the North American Championship of the WBO and won it after just one minute and six seconds by tKo in the first round against Eromosele Albert (21-1). In his next fight on September 5, 2008 in Austin, he defeated the Mexican Ricardo Cortés (22-2) by tKo in the second round. On November 22nd, 2008 he met Brian Vera (16-1) in Las Vegas, had him three times on the ground and won through tKo in the eighth round.

On March 7th, 2009 he defeated the Colombian Joel Julio (34-2) in San José, California, by tKo in the sixth round. After this fight he was ranked No. 1 by the WBA and No. 3 by the WBO in their world rankings.

On April 19, 2009, Kirkland was arrested again when he was found in a traffic stop with a firearm in violation of his probation requirements. He was sentenced to a two-year prison term, but was released on September 30, 2010. He then defeated two opponents prematurely within two weeks and got back into the ring on April 9, 2011 in Las Vegas. He was completely surprisingly knocked down three times in the first round by Japanese outsider Nobuhiro Ishida (22-6); the referee then ended the fight after less than two minutes of the first round and declared Ishida the winner by tKo

Kirkland won his next two fights within two rounds, after which he qualified for a title shot. On November 5, 2011, he defeated the Mexican Alfredo Angulo (20-1) in Cancún, Mexico by tKo in the sixth round and thus became the continental American title holder of the WBC . In March 2012, he defended the title in Houston against Carlos Molina (19-4). In the tenth round, Molina went down and was then disqualified because one of his supervisors entered the ring while counting.

Kirkland only returned to the ring after 20 months and defeated Glen Tapia (20-0) by tKo in the sixth round in December 2013. In May 2015 he returned to the ring and boxed against Saúl Álvarez (44-1), but had no chance against the Mexican and lost by knockout in the third round.

additional

Kirkland was initially under contract with Duva Boxing , later Golden Boy Promotions by Óscar de la Hoya and currently with SMS Promotions by Curtis Jackson .

Before his fight against Ishida, he had split from Ann Wolfe and instead trained under Kenny Adams. After the bitter tKo defeat against Ishida, he returned to Wolfe.

Web links

• Profile at BoxRec
• Profile at GoldenBoyPromotions
• Former convict James Kirkland looking to make up for lost time , USAToday
• 74th U.S. National Golden Gloves - Reno - April 30 - May 5 2001 , Boxing-Strefa