by David P. Greisman
Much has been made of James Kirkland’s latest parting with longtime trainer Ann Wolfe. The junior middleweight had left Wolfe once before and had lost to Nobuhiro Ishida by shocking first-round technical knockout in April 2011. And he left Wolfe again prior to his bout with Canelo Alvarez this past Saturday, which ended with Alvarez scoring an emphatic third-round KO.
Afterward, Kirkland’s co-promoter, rapper Curtis “50 Cent” Jackson of SMS Promotions, said he wants his fighter to return back to where he found his greatest success.
“I’m very proud of him. He fought like a true warrior,” Jackson was quoted as saying afterward. “But I’m sending him back to Ann Wolfe.”
Kirkland, 31, of Austin, Texas, is now 32-2 with 28 KOs.
Pick up a copy of David’s book, “Fighting Words: The Heart and Heartbreak of Boxing,” at http://bit.ly/fightingwordsamazon or internationally at http://bit.ly/fightingwordsworldwide . Send questions/comments via email at fightingwords1@gmail.com
