HBO Triple header:Kirkland vs.Julio-Ortiz vs.Arnaoutis-Guerrero vs.Yordan

[holmcall]

Is Ortiz stoned or what

Yes, he trailed off at the end after being quite articulate. Almost like he was on something with a delayed action. Very strange and very perceptive of you Spicoli.....

[holmcall]

"Mandingo Warrior" sucks as a nickname. Shades of Kenny Norton who starred in the movie, "Mandingo." Good God! I'll bet Kirkland doen't know what Mandingo means.....

[DC Amateur Boxing]

"Mandingo Warrior" sucks as a nickname. Shades of Kenny Norton who starred in the movie, "Mandingo." Good God! I'll bet Kirkland doen't know what Mandingo means.....

That's the point. Not just a movie but a book first. Just homage to Mandika tribe of West Africa and their decendents, one of which was the main character of Alex Haley's Roots - in which Haley claimed to be a Mandika decendent as well.

[TitoFan]

BTW, I thought Yordan was pretty slick in there. Too bad the fight ended on that cut. It's kind of hard to blame Guerrero after I actually saw the cut. It was nasty. But Guerrero WAS a bit too eager for the fight to be stopped.

[Spicoli]

Is Ortiz stoned or what

Yes, he trailed off at the end after being quite articulate. Almost like he was on something with a delayed action. Very strange and very perceptive of you Spicoli.....

...once he got to the Taco Bell line...it was alot of 'you knows' and then he started staring out into space like he was looking for a relative or something

[Myk_Myk]

Kirkland is very fun to watch! I think his offense is a good part of his defense, so actually his defense isn't as bad as it looks. He didn't allow Julio to set, and so the shots weren't as effective as they could have been. I guess that's partly Julio's fault for not making the commitment to stand and try to catch him on the way in.

Maybe, a real cutie slickster will be the one to hand Kirkland his first loss? Kirkland reminds me of Lacy when he was muscling through the SM division. Hopefully he won't turn out to be just waiting to be exposed like Lacy was. Somehow I think his future is much brighter.

Ortiz is exciting too! HBO should try to get them on the same card again. Maybe along with a rematch of the nights first fight?

[mrbig1]

Kirkland is very fun to watch! I think his offense is a good part of his defense, so actually his defense isn't as bad as it looks. He didn't allow Julio to set, and so the shots weren't as effective as they could have been. I guess that's partly Julio's fault for not making the commitment to stand and try to catch him on the way in.

Maybe, a real cutie slickster will be the one to hand Kirkland his first loss? Kirkland reminds me of Lacy when he was muscling through the SM division. Hopefully he won't turn out to be just waiting to be exposed like Lacy was. Somehow I think his future is much brighter.

Ortiz is exciting too! HBO should try to get them on the same card again. Maybe along with a rematch of the nights first fight?

I agree with much of your post. I'm still not sold on him. He does have a good chin and power. He is so wide open. A good counter puncher with power could cause Kirkland a lot of trouble.

[TitoFan]

Kirkland is very fun to watch! I think his offense is a good part of his defense, so actually his defense isn't as bad as it looks. He didn't allow Julio to set, and so the shots weren't as effective as they could have been. I guess that's partly Julio's fault for not making the commitment to stand and try to catch him on the way in.

Maybe, a real cutie slickster will be the one to hand Kirkland his first loss? Kirkland reminds me of Lacy when he was muscling through the SM division. Hopefully he won't turn out to be just waiting to be exposed like Lacy was. Somehow I think his future is much brighter.

Ortiz is exciting too! HBO should try to get them on the same card again. Maybe along with a rematch of the nights first fight?

I agree with much of your post. I'm still not sold on him. He does have a good chin and power. He is so wide open. A good counter puncher with power could cause Kirkland a lot of trouble.

It didn't hurt his cause that Julio wasn't setting himself to throw his bombs, most of which came while he was backpedaling. But he does appear to have a decent chin, however.

[No Contest]

That stoppage was way early in the Ortiz fight.

[No Contest]

From the first ding of the bell Kirkland was moving forward, too bad for Julio he doesn't box well backing up. Kirkland just mauled him, showed a good chin again, but I think a good counter-puncher who can box backing up will give him a hard time.

[Myk_Myk]

That stoppage was way early in the Ortiz fight.

Totally disagree. The ref was pretty much forced to stop the fight when Arnaoutis stood there looking at the floor and not throwing a single punch. Notice the ref didn't stop it until Ortiz started landing clean punches in the corner. He let it continue as long as Arnaoutis wasn't getting hit clean.

I guess that's one argument for the standing 8; not that I support it. Again I don't think that was early, but I'd rather see an early stoppage; which favors a longer career.

As for Kirkland and his "straight in, Julio should have been able to clock him" style. I think some consideration/possible credit has to be given to his camp for choosing a fight plan that worked against Julio. Time will tell if they are able to change things up against an opponent with different strengths/weaknesses.

[DC Amateur Boxing]

I agree with much of your post. I'm still not sold on him. He does have a good chin and power. He is so wide open. A good counter puncher with power could cause Kirkland a lot of trouble.

I love Kirkland!! I really like his story along with Anne Wolfe. He reminds me of a young Tyson in that he is a FIGHTER - who attempts to take his opponent's will to fight away. I've never seen Julio look so helpless. I was watching with my son and I kept explaining to him that Julio is NOT as bad as he looks, backing up the entire fight. It was just that Kirkland imposed his will and even when he got caught with good shots, he seemed to really enjoy contact. Before the interview, I joked that I'm sure that Wolfe beats Kirkland silly during training camp - and she said the same thing. I love her quote that she doesn't try to push a fighter's body and mind in camp, but she tries to push the limits of their spirit. I can't wait for Kirkland to get his next "test" because that is one tough young fighter. I also love how from the each bell, he has to have the quickest punch in all of boxing. It takes him about a half a second to get started. At one pt, when the ref told them the break and then said "Let's go" meaning start fighting, Kirkland hit him so fast that Julio complained and the ref even broke them up to tell Julio to listen and Kirkland as well. Kirkland only followed the ref's command to start, but he did it so fast - the ref said "keep it clean" like he was saying "James, when I say start you are supposed to give the other guy a chance to get ready before you try to knock his head off". That was hilarious to me.