James Kirkland Likely Out For His August Fight, Too
By Mark Vester
Undefeated junior middleweight star James Kirkland is still being detained for gun charges. A few weeks ago, Kirkland was arrested by agents from the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms, who found a loaded .40-caliber Glock pistol in the center console of his Cadillac. Kirkland's care was followed by agents after he left a gun show in Austin. He was still on probation for a 2003 arrest for armed robbery.
Due to the arrest, Kirkland was pulled from the May 2 Pacquiao-Hatton undercard, where he would have faced Michael Walker, and his August bout, which would have been against WBA champion Daniel Santos, is also not likely to happen. Kirkland will probably still be detained by federal agents.
Kirland's co-manager, Michael Miller, told John Whisler of the San Antonio Express-News that Kirkland would have made $235,000 for the Walker fight and likely would have earned $300,000-$350,000 for the bout with Santos.
[The arrest] crushed all of us," Miller told the paper. “Upset, angry, sad. You name it. We felt all the emotions. It's like one of your children. You stand behind them when they make a bad decision. We think he's going to learn from it. But if it isn't an awakening experience, then we have a problem.”
A sentencing hearing is scheduled in 45 days. Kirkland's attorneys, along with Miller [an attorney himself], is hoping to reach a plea agreement that would allow the fighter to continue his career while spending his sentence in a halfway house. Miller expects Kirkland to receive a sentence from 12 to 15 months.
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