Post fight thoughts on Kirkland-Angulo.
Me and my pops were watching this classic together, before the first bell rang my pops asked, "who do you thinks going to win?" I said "if it's the Kirkland of old, Kirkland takes him out in 6, if the Kirkland of late, angulo in 8" and then the first bell rang, I knew instantly from the first combination James threw, he was back. He was already making Angulo very uncomfortable in the first 10 seconds,...And then BOOM! down goes Kirkland. My heart sunk for the dude, 'cause I thought surely it was over, now the next sequence in the round that happens is where everyone got caught up in the moment (including me until i rewatched the fight a few times) Angulo came pressing trying to hammer James out, but Kirkland is trying, and succeeding on catching Angulo in between Angulo's shots, which was intelligent, and in my opinion is what truly zapped Angulo. Not only did Kirkland show and prove his conditioning and heart, but he showed he could go up to another gear in the mid rounds when he started moving a bit and controlling the distance with his jab, he kept Angulo on the end of his jab all night, and in turn that kept Angulo on the end of Kirkland's combinations as well, James' timing, ability to counter and defense have improved, mainly his timing and ability to counter, but his defense has indeed improved somewhat. Kirkland broke Angulo, in his home country. Kirkland didn't need gimmicks or anything in his favor, he did it the old school way, and that in and of itself is of utmost respect. Kirkland proved to me he's top 5 in the division, and will give ANYBODY a handful in the division. If Golden Boy allows Canelo in the ring with Kirkland, at this point in Saul's career he would get obliterated in 3-4 rounds, he needs more time to develop. But nonetheless respect to Kirkland.