By Keith Idec
James Kirkland clearly has a bigger fight on his immediate agenda, but Freddie Roach hopes Glen Tapia gets another shot at Kirkland at some point.
Kirkland (32-1, 28 KOs) stopped Tapia (22-1, 14 KOs) in the sixth round of a brutal bout 15 months ago in Atlantic City. Roach began working with the 25-year-old-Tapia four months after Kirkland defeated him and changed Tapia’s training regimen.
Tapia, of Passaic, N.J., has won both of his bouts by technical knockout since Roach became his trainer, but against a low level of opposition. He’ll face his toughest opponent since losing to Kirkland on Saturday in Macau, China, where Tapia will face Australia’s Dawson (40-4-1, 26 KOs) in a 10-round junior middleweight match (HBO2; 5 p.m. ET).
“I’m really upset that Glen lost to [Kirkland],” Roach said. “I think he’s the better fighter. He just didn’t fight the right fight that night and his conditioning was not as good as it should’ve been. I would like to get that fight back. I’m a true believer that revenge is big in this sport.”
Kirkland, of Austin, Texas, is scheduled to challenge Canelo Alvarez (44-1-1, 31 KOs) on May 9 in a 12-round junior middleweight fight at Minute Maid Park in Houston (HBO). That’ll mark Kirkland’s first fight since he beat Tapia.
Keith Idec covers boxing for The Record and Herald News, of Woodland Park, N.J., and BoxingScene.com. He can be reached on Twitter @Idecboxing.
