By Rick Reeno

BoxingScene.com has received confirmation from Cameron Dunkin, the manager of James Kirkland, that his boxer's shoulder is still bothering him and he won't be able to move forward with a scheduled fight with WBC junior middleweight champion Saul "Canelo" Alvarez on September 15th at the MGM Grand in Las Vegas. Kirkland's withdrawal comes less than 24 hours after a deal was finalized.

"He called me this morning and told me that he worked out last night and his shoulder felt funny, he felt a twitch. He is afraid that he won't be able to train properly [because he will be worried about injuring the shoulder]. He is sick about it [not being able to fight]," Dunkin told BoxingScene.com. 

Alvarez (40-0-1, 29KOs) vs. Kirkland (31-1, 27KOs) was scheduled to headline a planned pay-per-view event called "Knockout Kings." A four city press tour was being put together.

Following his March disqualification win over Carlos Molina, Kirkland underwent arthroscopic surgery to repair two tears in his right shoulder. It was initially believed that Kirkland would not be able to fight until the month of October. However, Kirkland received his final medical clearance on Wednesday by his treating physician. But, as Kirkland found out last night, the shoulder is still not 100%.

This marks the second blow to the September date in less than a week. A deal was finalized last week for Canelo to face Paul "The Punisher" Williams. This past Sunday near Atlanta, Williams suffered serious injuries in a motorcycle accident. The tragic incident left Williams paralyzed from the waist down.