By Lem Satterfield

Fresh off of his consecutive, over-the-middleweight limit knockouts that were scored over the course of a two-week span, it appears that southpaw junior middleweight contender, James Kirkland, will return to the ring on April 9 against an opponent to be determined, his manager, Cameron Dunkin, told BoxingScene.com.

Kirkland will return to the ring as part of an under card to the main event featuring former three-division titlist, Erik Morales and Marcos Rene Maidana at the MGM Grand Hotel in Las Vegas, and to the co-feature matching Robert Guerrero against Michael Katsidis.

Kirkland fought twice at 161, and, 161.5 pounds, respectively, on March 5, and, March 18, stopping his rivals in the first, and, second rounds to improve to 27-0, with 24 knockouts.

"It was two weeks. And James wants to fight every night, and he's very aggressive," said Dunkin. "And he's like, 'You know, let me fight tonight, tomorrow and next week.'"

Having been paired with new trainer, Kenny Adams, Kirkland has relocated from Austin, Tex., this, after having been released from Bastrop Federal Prison, in Bastrop, Tex., in September after having pled guilty to a charge of gun possession in April of 2009.

Prior to March 5, Kirkland had not fought since March, 2009 when he stopped Joel Julio in the sixth round. Kirkland had been in line to face Michael Walker in a 10-round bout on the May 2009 undercard of Manny Pacquiao's second-round knockout of Ricky Hatton at the MGM Grand in Las Vegas when he was arrested in April of 2009.

Dunkin wants Kirkland to be closer to the junior middleweight limit for his next bout, perhaps no more than two pounds over at 158, he told BoxingScene.com.

"We want the weight to be lower. We're trying to go the other way. We're trying to get him back down to where James is supposed to be, so we want to fight at, like, 158," said Dunkin. "James is committed to making 158 for this fight, and he's got about three weeks to do it. We're looking to find somebody for him to fight at that weight."

On March 5, after having easily dispatched of 32-year-old Ahsandi Gibbs (10-3, four KOs) in only 34 seconds, Kirkland immediately demanded another fight, said Dunkin.

"When he got done with the first one against Gibbs, he was like, 'Can I fight again tonight?'" said Dunkin. "I mean, he was that serious. He was just like, 'All this did was to get my blood flowing. I want another fight as soon as you can get me one.'"

Kirkland was then literally granted a birthday gift -- a March 18 appearance opposite 25-year-old John Berrio (15-9, 11 KOs) on the night before Kirkland turned 27 years old.

"So, you know, [Golden Boy Promotions CEO] Richard Schaefer said, 'You know, well listen, I don't have a problem putting James back on in two or three weeks,'" said Dunkin.

"Richard said, 'Just let me know if it's alright with you guys, we can do that,'" said Dunkin. "And I said, 'Well let me talk to James about it, and I did, and [attorney] Michael Miller did, and James was like, 'Yeah, yeah, I want to fight, I want to fight.'"

Kirkland did not look as sharp Dunkin and his camp would have liked against Berrio, validating and perhaps necessitating another tune up bout prior to perhaps challenging for a junior middleweight belt.

"You know, it was probably too much too soon the other night. James was heavy, he was sluggish, he was slow. He didn't look good the first round at all. He didn't look anything like his fight a couple of weeks ago," said Dunkin.

"So we want to slow it down a little bit and to get ready for April 9. And, you know, we're trying to, as fast as we can, knock the ring rust off of him," said Dunkin. "Then, on April 9, he'll get another opportunity, and I'm sure that he will be right on April 9 and look good. We have several names here. I will know today or tomorrow who he'll be fighting."