So, what's the consensus on Kirkland?

I think james proved he is the truth tonight. I think he has better skills then he has shown but he has not need to use them yet. think about it Julio is a power puncher with some boxing skill an dhis punches did not even phase him. i think he is in the top five @ 154lb but PW and SM would outbox him right now. He needs to step in there with a cute boxer or two at a notch below before he even thinks about fighting them. Santos and Forrest would be interesting matchups. I think kirkland does handle them both. The one fight i would love to see is him against AM. I think james would make Tony his *****. Hell lets make it his punishment for loading his gloves . . . make tony fight JK once a month.

 

other reason wht pavlik wont stay at 160 for a pretty long time...he'll wait for the smaller guys to move up

 

I was thinking the same thing, but Kirkland would just end up like Miranda.

 

Tough kid, He takes a better punch than I thought.
Let's see him against more "Julio Types". He is DEFO not ready yet.
(For the upper class, Let alone Any mention of a Pavlik ect...)

 

He impressed me tonight, he looked kinda big for 154, atleast compared to Julio, theres no doubt the kids is tough and durable, but Im not gone go as far as to call him a pure puncher, because he has bad technique. Bottom line, he has to work on his boxing skills, I would rate his skills at a C + maybe a B-. Though 154 is not too deep, I think some of the more crafty guys like Santos, Martinez and Dzinziruk will be able to outbox him. Kirkland has a long way to go befor he becomes a complete fighter, his a future middleweight and if he doesn't improve his defence, he will be a deam man walking in Abraham/Pavlik territory.

 

miranda is a SMW now

 

James Kirkland has good chances of dethroning old and weary Vernon Forrest, who will really crumble and fade under this relentless pressure. He can also be on even terms with Daniel Santos. On the other hand, he will be outpunched by PW, outcircled and fooled by Sergio Martinez and I think he will lose a spirited twelve-rounder to Dzinziruk the way Julio did.

Dzinziruk is almost uknown outside of Europe but the proof he is a world-class fighter was his victory over favorite Daniel Santos. I watched that fight (plus three-four more of Dzyna) and Santos lost a clear-cut and well-earned decision. However, Sergey is a bit instable. He looked crap against Lucas Konecny for example. But against Julio he was near his prime...

 

He made me a fan of his last night and thats all I know. His punches are lethal and he is going to make some noise in the division soon, trust me...

 

Stop this nonsense. I distinctly remember you saying you would be surprised if Julio didn't KO Kirkland. Now you post this garbage. You're a better poster than this.

 

Powerful, relentless, very strong, excellent chin, one dimensional, slow, very easy to hit, opponents very carefully selected to match his style.

 

Get real. Kirkland is hardly slow or one dimensional. And he's shown some solid defense when he wants to. Finally, Kirklands opponents have not been very carefully selected. You picked Julio at first in this fight and then changed to Kirkland.

 

He'd lose to guys like Williams, Martinez and probably Santos. Dzinziruk would have a field day picking holes in that defence. His best chance of a belt would be Forrest, because he's not primed and the whole pressure thing might work out well given what we saw with the Mayorga fights. I'd still make Vernon the favourite though.

 

I know, they just ignore the fact that he has fast hands and that his left hand leads are quick and has a damned good jab when he actually uses it. He can be better than what he is.

 

as with all kirkalnd's fights. He is a KO that is just waiting to happen. And I mean brutally.

 

Geez, calm down there partner.... yes he did beat Julio, but what struck me is that he got hit, and a lot, and basically the reason I saw for this win was because he was clearly bigger and stronger than Julio and could take the punishment better. Despite that, Kirkland was still his usual crude and unpolished self. Let's see what happens when a guy faces him who's just as strong as he is and can land with as much accuracy as Julio did tonight. I mean honestly, what about this guy's crude skills impresses you all? I don't get it.

Bring Angulo on and we'll see what this kid is really made of.