Mandingo on Ice: Whatever Happened To James Kirkland? Brizel’s Thoughts
By Robert Brizel, Head Real Combat Media Correspondent
Light middleweight boxer James ‘Mandingo’ Kirkland has seemingly vanished from the boxing scene for over 13 months after his ten round disqualification win over Carlos ‘King’ Molina. Meanwhile, Carlos Molina, the man he beat, got over his loss to Kirkland with a 10 round decision win over Damian Frias, and a 12 round decision win over Cory Spinks for the number two International Boxing Federation ratings position. Molina will now fight Ishe Smith in Las Vegas for the IBF World Light Middleweight title on July 19, 2013. Molina might as well: Kirkland has disappeared from the map at 31-1 with 27 knockouts. How so?
Word is Kirkland wants nothing to do with Golden Boy anymore. It isn’t known whether the reason for Kirkland’s break from Golden Boy had to do with being unable to come to financial terms for a bout with Saul ‘Canelo’ Alvarez. Kirkland seemed indestructible with trainer Ann Wolfe back in his corner, and Kirkland’s methodical destruction of Alfredo Angulo was the evidence, solid proof of the pudding. Did James Kirkland simply give up on himself? It’s hard to say.
Kirkland’s career has hit rock bottom three times. Kirkland went to jail for six months in 2003 after being convicted of armed robbery, and ultimately was out of boxing for two and a half years because of the incident. Kirkland returned to jail for unlawful possession of a firearm while on probation in Texas, from April 2009 to September 2010.
In April 2011, Kirkland, fighting without Ann Wolfe in his corner, got dropped three times in the first round for a TKO loss to former WBA World Light middleweight champion Nobuhiro Ishida. Standing in front of Ishida and trying to slug it out with his defensive guard down, Kirkland got dropped by Ishida’s accurate counter power shot only blows. Turns out Ishida, who noticed Kirkland sans Ann Wolfe taking stiff fights every few weeks on Make A Fight, was not taking his opponents seriously in his approach to the tuneup bouts and the footage revealed
his bad habits. Worse, Kirkland had to deal with extreme weight loss before the Ishida fight.
Returning to original trainer Ann Wolfe, Kirkland’s faults may have been to his advantage. The number two ranked middleweight in the world, Alfredo Angulo, simply trained for a quick knockout, believing Kirkland would be the same stupid fighter who Ishida had knocked out beforehand. Angulo dropped Kirkland, threw 100 punches trying to finish Kirkland and foolishly punched himself out, getting dropped himself late in the first round. Kirkland patiently outboxed the arm weary Angulo for four rounds before finishing Angulo along the ropes in round six. Wolfe has correctly surmised the Angulo camp had prepared for a quick fight, so Wolfe prepared for the long haul. Kirkland patiently walked the overhyped Angulo down.
James Kirkland versus Alfredo Angulo 2011 Bout on Video Daily Motion
Angulo has since knocked out Raul Casarez in the first round and won a 10 round decision over Jorge Silva, after spending seven months in the United states Immigration ICE Detention Center in EL Centro, California due to visa problems, leading to a one year layoff from boxing. Angullo next fights Erislandy Lara in Carson, California, on June 8, 2013 in a 154 pound contender crossroads bout.
In August 2012, Kirkland was in court against Golden Boy Promotions, in order to try and get out of his contract with them. Kirkland was seeking another direction, and a rematch with Angulo was not part of his plan. Canelo Alvarez might be. His situation is Kirkland wants to do his thing with a different promoter. Kirkland continues to discuss his previous fights, Ann Wolfe, his financial struggle, and taking his life one day at a time. Kirkland gave a radio interview to Real Combat Media on Apr1, 2013. The Real Combat Media radio interview, known as radio interview # 10, can be found online on blogtalkradio.com at
http://realcombatmedia.com/2013/04/01/real-combat-media-boxing-radio-episode-10-32513/#&panel1-1
From David Tua to James Kirkland, from Terry Norris to Mike Tyson to Don King, whenever the subject ‘lawsuits’ comes up I say “Please don’t go there.” Fighters without money suing managers and promoters falls into a realm of what we have here is a failure to communicate. Things happen, and it’s hard to understand it all.
I just things at times some boxers go a bit too far in going to war with their promoters. People understand the business of watching fights. Beyond that, barring a serious injury (like the fatal injury incurred by Benny Kid Paret or something like that), the average Joe just doesn’t understand the contractual and lawsuit mess which has manifested itself in the heart of professional sports. My only conclusion is maybe the fighter doesn’t the like the matchups the promoter is promoting.
Personality clashes are not limited to boxing. Unfortunately when they do occur in boxing, the situation is worse than a big riot, because the lawsuits drag for years and in my view, function for a purpose which runs counter to the goals of championship boxing. Perhaps many a fighter was promised the sun, the moon and stars, and in the long run doesn’t want to sacrifice their career for peanuts in a losing situation.
Excerpts From Real Combat Media Boxing Radio Episode #10 featuring James Kirkland
James Kirkland: “It seems like forever I’ve been waiting to get back in there. I’ve been in the training camps sparring, I’ve been giving people the best sparring in their life. I’m back in preparation for me, getting back into shape and fighting again. By the end of next year, I’ll be back in there (in the ring) and making things happen. Sparring is how I get the ability to be the fighter I am. A sparring match is really a fight. You do it every other day, Tuesday, Thursday, Saturday. I have or three people I work with, they switch them out, I try to keep myself busy, keep myself motivated. To be able to fight you have to be the gym. When your in the gym training and sparring, you’re not out of fight competition, you are always ready keeping prepared. I’ll never have a problem getting ready. This is just a major setback (having to wait to fight again), waiting to comeback. I always have this fighter or that fighter say they want to fight you. I’ve always had two hands and am willing to fight someone. If the money is right, I’m always ready to show people what I can do. Even when the money is not right, I’m always ready to show people what I can do. Nobody is like me, no person has gone 12 rounds with Kirkland. The work effort that I put in, I show it in the ring. I break somebody’s will power and heart, their courage level and self-esteem isn’t complete once they get hit with something (by me). I look forward to surprising my fans with more and more accomplishments. I take my wins, and I take my losses.”
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