By Lem Satterfield
Unbeaten junior middleweight contender James Kirkland, released from Bastrop Federal Prison, in Bastrop, Tex., on Sept. 30, after having pled guilty to a charge of gun possession in April of 2009, will fight Delray Raines on the Dec. 11 undercard of an HBO televised main event featuring WBA junior welterweight king Amir Khan and WBA interim titlist Marcos Maidana at the Mandalay Bay Hotel in Las Vegas, according his manager, Cameron Dunkin.
The 26-year-old Kirkland (25-0, 22 knockouts), who will spend the remaining months of his sentence in an Austin, Tex., halfway house, will be ending a 21-month ring absence by facing the 24-year-old Raines (18-8-1, 13 KOs) of Paris, Ark.
"Delray Raines is a good opponent," said Dunkin. "He's strong, and he's right-handed, and he comes to fight, and he's right in front of you. He's going to put pressure on James. He takes a good shot. He's exactly what we need."
Kirkland will be in his first fight with San Antonio-based trainer, Richard Lord, who is replacing Ann Wolfe. Lord trained former WBC super featherweight and IBF lightweight champion Jesus Chavez.
"Richard Lord is going to be training James for this fight," said Dunkin. "Richard Lord has a gym there in San Antonio, and that's where James is going to train. He's going to train James for this one fight, and then, we'll see where we go from there."
Lem Satterfield is the boxing editor at AOL FanHouse and the news editor at BoxingScene.com. To read more from Lem Satterfield, go to AOL FanHouse by Clicking Here.