By Darrell Singleton: Last night at Dr. Pepper Ballpark in Frisco, TX, James Kirkland (28-1, 25 KOs) was back in action, when he took on Dennis Sharpe Jr. (17-7-3) in a scheduled 8 round bout. This was Kirkland’s first bout since getting destroyed at the 1:11 mark of the first round by Japanese journeyman Nobuhiro Ishida; a fight in which the Austin fighter hit the canvas three times in less than two minutes..
Since that fight, James released trainer Kenny Adams and began working with former female champion Ann Wolfe once again.
Kirkland looked determined to make quick work of Sharpe, and came out eager to prove that his last bout on the undercard of the Morales/Maidana pay-per-view was simply a fluke.
Kirkland was very aggressive and put Sharpe down with a body shot to end the fight abruptly 2:18 into the first round.
In the main event of the evening, Brian Vera (19-5, 12 KOs) took on tough journeyman Eloy Suarez (11-12-1) in an 8 round scheduled bout.
In a fight which featured a lot of heavy shots landed by both fighters, Vera and Suarez wowed the crowd with great back and forth action for most of the fight.
In the majority of the rounds, Vera would open up each round aggressively and force the action, but would leave himself open to be countered by Suarez with left hooks and straight right hands.
In round six, Vera landed a left hook to the head of Eloy Suarez and opened up around the eye and continued to dominate the action. Although Suarez showed a lot of heart and mental toughness, he could not dissuade the Austin, TX, native from trudging forward and forcing Suarez backward.
In the eighth and final round, Vera landed a perfect left hook to the body which sent the San Antonio, TX, fighter slumping over in pain.
Eloy Suarez could not beat the ten count, and Brian Vera was awarded the knock-out victory.
Vera has now won 3 of 4 and looks to capitalize on his recent success with a rematch against NABA and NABF Middleweight champion Andy Lee.