By Mark Vester

The hyped triple-header that HBO and Golden Boy Promotions is trying to put together for June 27 may get split and become two separate events. The original idea was to have a triple-header that would feature unbeaten James Kirkland facing WBO junior middleweight champion Sergiy Dzinziruk, Victor Ortiz facing WBA junior welterweight champion Andreas Kotelnik and a rematch between WBA featherweight champ Chris John and Rocky Juarez - all of which would have taken place at the Staples Center in California.

Richard Schaefer, CEO for Golden Boy, spoke with Doug Fischer of The Ring Online, and said the planned triple-header may become two events due to HBO's concerns over Kirkland's undercard bout on the Manny Pacquiao-Ricky Hatton pay-per-view on May 2. HBO is worried that Kirkland might suffer a cut or an injury that would prevent him from fighting on June 27. The May opponent is slated to be Micheal Walker of Chicago.

The new plan would have Victor Ortiz headline the June 27 date against Kotelnik, and have super featherweight Robert Guerrero in the co-feature. That event would happen at the Home Depot Center or Nokia Theatre in California. Kirkland vs. Dzinziruk and John vs. Juarez would get shipped to a date in July, or August at the latest - and those fights would take place in Texas where Kirkland and Juarez are big crowd favorites.

“HBO has issues with James Kirkland fighting on the May 2 Hatton-Pacquiao undercard,” Schaefer said. “They are worried that he might get injured or cut during the fight and then be unable to compete on the June 27 card."

"So we might split the June 27 card up and go with Ortiz-Kotelnik at the Home Depot Center or Nokia Theatre on that date with Robert Guerrero in the co-feature and save Kirkland-Dzinziruk for a late July or early August show in Texas with the John-Juarez rematch as the co-feature.”

Send News Tips and Comments To Mark Vester @ boxingvester@gmail.com