18.05.08 – By Frank Gonzalez Jr: HBO’s Boxing After Dark series featured three prospects in fights against three, “respectable opponents” Saturday night. First up was a Jr. Middleweight contest starring James Kirkland (22-0, 19 KO’s), who scored a first round KO over Eromosele Albert (22-1, 10 KO’s). Not much of a fight there. Albert came into the ring with a bulbous mound on the right side of his head that looked like he just got whacked upside the head with a hammer in the locker room.
Kirkland landed a straight left to the temple that saw Albert go down and though he beat the count, he wasn’t really ready to continue and Kirkland caught him again and he went down in submission. Joe Cortez, the referee, stopped it. If you blinked, you might’ve missed this one. The prize was the NABO LMW title. Hey, everyone’s a champ these days..
James Kirkland is trained by Ann Wolfe, the former Middleweight and Light Heavyweight Champion, as you may recall, she was always calling out Laila Ali but Ali would never fight her. Wolfe is tough and runs a rough training camp that involves a lot of punishment to condition her fighters to be above whatever the ring has to offer in the way of punishment. Kirkland, with 22 pro fights under his belt, looks ready to fight a legitimate banger, name brand type fighter already. Too bad Albert wasn’t as sturdy as his record suggests because we learned nothing new about Kirkland Saturday night.
Kirkland has only gone the distance twice, once in a four rounder and once more recently, a ten rounder against Ozzie Duran (23-6-1, 9 KO’s). I’d like to see him fight Sechew Powell (23-1, 14 KO’s), Joel Julio (33-1, 30 KO’s) or Travis Simms (25-1, 19 KO’s), all of whom would be legit opponents that would really show how good Kirkland is. Hey, here’s a great one, how bout Kirkland vs. Julio Caesar Chaves Jr.? Chavez has been milking his name to a record of 36-0-1, with 29 KO’s. If Chavez keeps going against the questionable caliber of fighters he’s been making his bones with, he may retire before ever facing anyone we’ve ever heard of.
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The second fight was another Jr. Middleweight bout between Alfredo Angulo (13-0, 10 KO’s) and Richar Gutierrez (24-2, 14 KO’s). This was the most exciting fight on the card, as both guys were boxer/sluggers with similar styles and level of ability.
Angulo started out pushing forward with an effective offense. Gutierrez was warned for hitting and holding. Gutierrez landed a big left hook, which led to a lot of action. Angulo came forward and Gutierrez landed a clean right. Angulo landed often to the body and they battled for five rounds, with Angulo getting the better of the exchanges and winning four of the five rounds before scoring the TKO win in the fifth round after Angulo scored a series of clean punches, a right, left, right…right, left, right, then referee Tony Weeks stepped in and stopped it.
Angulo fights like a modern day Raging Bull. He can take big shots without losing his cool and return fire with good accuracy and a nice blend of body work and shots upstairs. If you never seen him fight, he’s like Margarito in temperament with a body like Miguel Cotto.
Because Angulo was matched against another good fighter with some pop, we got a real look at how Angulo acts under pressure and the kind of fighter he really is. He showed a damn good chin after getting popped a couple of times with clean shots but he kept coming forward, always relaxed, always throwing punches with a preference for the inside game. He gets an A in my book and I can’t wait to see this guy fight again! Too bad he wasn’t the match up for James Kirkland; that would’ve been a telling fight.
Guys I’d like to see Angulo fight are Daniel Santos (31-3-1, 22 KO’s), Cornelius Bundrage (28-3-2, 16 KO’s) or Andrey Tsurkan (26-3-1, 17 KO’s).
With only 13 pro fights under his belt, Angulo looks more like a seasoned pro than many guys with double his stats. Of 13 pro fights, six have been against guys with winning records and that percentage is WAY higher than the average prospect these days.
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The third fight was more of an inter-divisional match up, though it was billed as a Jr. Lightweight contest. The highly touted Cuban from Guantanamo, nick named, the “Cyclone of Guantanamo” Yurkiorkis Gamboa (10-0, 8 KO’s) came into the ring weighing 140 after officially weighing in at 128. If you gain 12 pounds overnight, it’s clear that you’re not fighting at the proper weight. The “opponent,” Darling Jimenez (23-3-2, 14 KO’s), officially weighed in at 131 and came in weighing 132. It should be noted that Jimenez hasn’t fought in over a year. Jimenez is a good technical boxer of NY Golden Gloves pedigree and he had his moments in this showcase fight.
Gamboa has uncanny dexterity, great mobility and ring generalship. He’s got fast hands and a lot of flashy moves to go with them. With his chiseled physique and flat top hairstyle, he’s as cocky as they come and showboats via body language in the ring. He was billed as a big puncher by Max Kellerman (or whatever you call him), who insinuated that Gamboa was a better puncher than Meldrick Taylor was.
During the fight, Gamboa was very aggressive, throwing a lot of punches but missing most of them. Gamboa keeps his hands down low and got hit cleanly in spots by the unassuming Jimenez, who employed quality, technical boxing skills. Jimenez managed to land counter shots in spots but he didn’t land enough of them to win many rounds. In the fourth round, Jimenez clocked Gamboa with a right to the temple that dropped him to the canvas. After getting up and beating the count, Jimenez jumped on him but was unable to catch the speedy Gamboa who has the ability to run without looking like he’s running because he has such an arsenal of moves.
With Gamboa pressuring him all night, Jimenez spent the majority of his time on defense. That was how Gamboa won the fight, by being busier and constantly throwing punches that must have looked very impressive from the back rows but up close, you could see that he rarely landed anything flush. If he’s a better puncher than Meldrick Taylor, this fight did little to prove that true.
The crowd didn’t seem to like Gamboa much. They booed when the ref warned both guys for a pair of low blows and another time, when he head butted Jimenez, who complained to the ref to no avail. Gamboa fouled often but the referee, Russell Mora, would warn both fighters every time Gamboa fouled. It was an interesting way to protect Gamboa from being disciplined for fouling. The fans clearly noticed it. Favorites get special treatment, there’s no doubt about it. With only ten pro fights, Gamboa is already enjoying the Michael Jordan Rules.
In the end, Gamboa rightly got the decision; he was the busier fighter for all of ten rounds, in spite of suffering the knockdown in the fourth. I had Jimenez winning three of ten rounds, obviously the fourth, and he landed the cleaner punches in the sixth and the eighth. Jimenez proved to be a tough kid with some good defensive skills. If he gets into proper condition and starts fighting regularly, watch out for him to make some noise in the mid-section of the division.
Gamboa is definitely entertaining. I think he needs to develop a bit more before knighting him the next big fighter because although he has an extensive amateur background (400+ fights at amateur) he is not an accurate puncher by any means. Maybe he can contact Meldrick Taylor for some private instruction?
All in all, the favorites all won. Not much drama there but that is how contenders are made.
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