Canelo vs. Kirkland: Knockout Result, Prize Money and Post-Fight Comments
You've heard the maxim "everything is bigger in Texas." Apparently, this includes the knockouts.
Saul "Canelo" Alvarez (45-1-1, 32 KOs) defeated James "The Mandingo Warrior" Kirkland (32-2-0, 28 KOs) Saturday night at Minute Maid Park in Houston, winning the bout in the third round with one of the cleanest punches you'll ever see.
Already battered from a brutal first two rounds and knockdowns in the first and early third round, Kirkland wasn't up to the task of fending off Alvarez's clever combinations.
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The knockout blow was a brilliant exercise in close-quarters boxing. Canelo got Kirkland—whose back was against the ropes—to drop both hands with a left jab to the body, before coming back over the top with a ramrod-straight right hand that caught his opponent flush on the chin and sent him into a tailspin toward the canvas, like a helicopter with a failed engine.
Take a look at the winning strike, via HBO Boxing:
While this scheduled 12-round bout became history in a hurry, it was not an entirely unimpressive display from Kirkland. He showed tremendous heart and conditioning in staying in the match after a first-round knockdown and managed to get in a few punishing blows of his own. HBO Boxing provided full highlights from the short match:
Prize-Money Info
ESPN's Dan Rafael passed along what info he had regarding the prize-money payouts, as both Kirkland and Alvarez were handsomely rewarded for their efforts:
Post-Fight Comments
Much of the pre-match commentary hyped this meeting between two volume punchers as boxing's antidote to the indifference some might have felt toward the sport after the underwhelming superfight between Floyd Mayweather Jr. and Manny Pacquiao on the previous Saturday. If this was indeed the sweet science's mea culpa, it would be hard to come up with a better one.
Golden Boy Promotions passed along this quote from Oscar De La Hoya, who could safely say after the fact that this matchup was in the name of fan service.
Fight fans will no doubt be desperately waiting to see whom Alvarez can line up for his next bout. The 24-year-old doesn't like to dance around opponents inside the ring or out, and he has been willing to take on many excellent challengers in his already prolific career. He said as much after defeating Kirkland, per HBO Boxing:
De La Hoya has designs to set up Alvarez with another top boxer, Miguel Cotto.
"We'll definitely be watching Cotto's fight very closely," De La Hoya said, according to ESPN's Dan Rafael. "Our intention is to make a superfight, Canelo with Cotto. If it doesn't work out, we'll move on to Plan B."
Cotto vs. Alvarez might make for an even more impressive bout than the one on Saturday, if only because it would likely last longer and demand a bit more chess than checkers from Alvarez. Cotto fights Daniel Geale on June 6, so this bout would likely take place in late September or October, if it happens at all.
Beyond Cotto, Alvarez could take on one of the most feared boxers in the sport today in Gennady Golovkin.
The moon-faced assassin is riding a 19-match knockout streak but hasn't yet found a famous enough opponent to truly put him over the top. Alvarez, no doubt about it, has that level of fame, especially in Mexico. According to Steven Muehlhausen of Sporting News, Alvarez told HBO's Max Kellerman that he "wants to fight Miguel Cotto later this year and Gennady Golovkin in the future."
Golovkin would be an excellent test for Alvarez, whose only pro defeat thus far has come at the hands of Mayweather. Triple G's hands seem to detonate his opponents' flesh upon impact, and his willingness to fight in close quarters would test both Alvarez's chin and counterpunching. Golovkin fights Willie Monroe Jr. on May 16 at the Forum in Inglewood, California. If for some reason Cotto doesn't work out, Golovkin could take on Alvarez either later this year or in 2016.
But what of Kirkland?
Well, the 31-year-old's post-fight comments seem to confirm the knockout was as bad as it looked.
"I did not know I was knocked out," Kirkland said, per Yahoo Sports' Kevin Iole. That's of little surprise, as the referee didn't even bother to go to a count after Kirkland went down. Iole also noted in his article that Kirkland was taken to a hospital for a CT scan after the match.
Kirkland's only two losses in his career have come by early knockout; the other one was a first-round TKO defeat at the hands of Nobuhiro Ishida in 2011. Kirkland's problem perhaps lies with who he had in his corner for those two fights—or better yet, who was absent.
That would be trainer Ann Wolfe, who was in attendance on Saturday. Curtis "50 Cent" Jackson is Kirkland's promoter and was quick to suggest the two might be reuniting again in the near future.
"I'm very proud of him. He fought like a true warrior, but I'm sending him back to Ann Wolfe," Jackson said, via Rafael.
Kirkland fights with all the grace and delicacy of a runaway freight train. Perhaps Wolfe holds the key to the southpaw's ability to move forward in the ring, throw devastating power punches and still get the most out of Kirkland's store-brand defense. His all-out offense was effective early on, but the cunning Alvarez was able to figure him out after 90 seconds or so and dominate the rest of the match.
"I jumped on him early, and I knew I had him hurt in the first round, but he escaped out of the corner," Kirkland said, via Rafael. "We both threw bombs in there. He hurt me, and I hurt him. I did not see the knockout punch."
This defeat in some ways exposed him, but it wouldn't be at all shocking if he finds his way into some high-profile cards in the near future, so long as his body and mind remain intact.
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