Sharkie’s Machine
By
Frank Gonzalez Jr.
March 7th, 2009
“James Kirkland Crushes Joel Julio”
Saturday at The Tank in
San Jose
California, Jr. Lightweight
Robert “The Ghost” Guerrero (23-1-1 NC, 16 KO’s) faced a little
known fighter from
Indonesia,
Daud Yordan (23-0-1 NC, 17 KO’s). Guerrero started fast,
landing two lefts to the body in what started as a quick paced
fight. Yordan proved a good boxer, landing a left, right combo
flush into Guerrero’s face. Then, Yordan landed two straight
lefts to the face. Guerrero’s aggression morphed into
clinching. A Yordan combo cracked Guerrero again near the end
of the first round.
The second round was equally
intense, with Yordan finding Guerrero easy to hit. Yordan would
throw a jab, follow up with a combination and then clinch
before Guerrero could respond in kind. Early in the second
round, Yordan and Guerrero banged heads. Guerrero suffered a
fairly nasty cut over his right eye and told the referee that
he “couldn’t see.” The ringside doc checked him out and after
about one and a quarter rounds had passed, the fight was called
off and both fighters got a No Decision added to their records.
The fans in the stands were pissed off, as they chanted,
“Bullshit, Bullshit, Bullshit!” Hey, they paid good money to
see their boy Guerrero fight and they only got a round and a
half of action? Though the cut was bad, it looked manageable
but it was Guerrero who wanted to stop the fight, not the ref
or the ringside doctor. Though it’s understandable that
Guerrero chose not to risk his health over entertaining his
fans, it does leave a cloud of doubt over Guerrero’s heart
under pressure. We’ve all seen fighters fight through worse
cuts than that. Boxing is a combat sport. There’s going to be
some blood. I hope Guerrero is okay and makes himself available
to a rematch with Yordan. It would only be fair to fight that
rematch in
Indonesia.
Hey, it might make for a nice vacation for the Guerrero family,
why not? Regardless of the venue, in cases like this, a rematch
should be mandatory.
Next up on the card was “Mighty”
Mike Arnaoutis (21-3-1, 10 KO’s) of
Greece,
whose record suggests he might want to reconsider his nickname…
against
Oxnard
California’s
“Vicious” Victor Ortiz (24-1-1, 19 KO’s), who will have
plenty of chances to live up to his nickname. This fight felt
like a showcase for Ortiz, who is a good boxer/puncher, against
the technically astute but feather fisted Arnaoutis, who’s been
on the downslide recently since he has a less than entertaining
style of tap and run boxing.
I thought Ortiz showed good
discipline and won the first round with cleaner punches. In the
second round, Ortiz had cut off the ring and landed a big left
that stunned Arnaoutis, who covered up and moved into the
corner, trying to weather the storm that was Ortiz’ rally.
Outside of the big left that staggered Arnaoutis, most of
Ortiz’ other punches were being blocked except for an upper cut
that broke Mike’s guard. The referee, in what this fan
considers overzealousness, waved Arnaoutis out. Arnaoutis was
questioning why the ref stopped it, since he was blocking most
of Ortiz’s shots and still capable of continuing. Well, that
was it for Arnaoutis, who now has three losses and a big hill
to climb if he wants to be a serious contender among the B
level fighters in his division.
This was a really bad stoppage
though. It gave the impression that someone on high favored
Ortiz. Arnaoutis didn’t get knocked down and appeared quite
conscious and capable after being ruled out by the ref. Ortiz
is a hungry young fighter with impressive composure. He does
not need this kind of ‘official help’ to shine. Had the fight
been allowed to continue, Ortiz may have gotten a legitimate
TKO without the asterisk.
* *
The good thing about the two
quick stoppages was that it brought me closer to the fight I
have really wanted to see; James Kirkland against Joel Julio.
Kirkland proved way
too much for Julio to handle. In the first round,
Kirkland was like a
tornado, blasting Julio and chasing him around the ring.
Julio’s supposed better boxing skills didn’t matter in the face
of the storm of
Kirkland’s
aggression. After a ruthless barrage of punches, Julio suffered
a cut over his right eye that proved a real handicap as the
fight continued.
Kirkland continued
to chase Julio around the ring in the second. Somehow, Julio
started to find a little rhythm from the outside and managed to
tag
Kirkland with a few clean shots,
including a straight right, right into
Kirkland’s face. A
moment later, Julio landed a good shot to the body.
Kirkland didn’t even
seem to notice.
Kirkland adjusted
his tempo, and focused on following his corner’s instructions
to double up on his jab, use more feints and move his head
more.
Kirkland got hit
with the cleaner shots but he was still the bully in the
ring. Punch-stats notwithstanding.
There was a lot of back and
forth action in the third. Julio’s corner encouraged him to
keep his defense tight and look to counter.
Kirkland was
doubling his jabs and kept the applying that pressure that
dictated the pace. Julio had some good moments again in the
third round but nothing he ever landed seemed to hurt
Kirkland at all.
Julio landed a big counter right, flush into the face of
Kirkland, who barely
seemed to notice.
The ref warned
Kirkland for hitting
behind the head early in the fourth round.
Kirkland continued
to chase Julio, who between the pressure and that nagging cut
over his right eye, was starting to fold. Julio landed some
good shots here and there but nothing consistent enough to win
the round. Julio’s eye was looking real bad by the start of the
fifth round. Julio landed some big shots as he rallied to
change the tides but
Kirkland took
everything Julio could dish out without effect.
Between the fifth and sixth,
Julio’s corner asked, “How are you feeling?” Julio just looked
at them sarcastically; his swollen face and bloody eye
answering the question. In the sixth, Julio continued to land
some clean shots but since he was mostly moving backwards,
those shots had less pop and little effect on
Kirkland. Near the
end of the round, Julio landed big shots to the body and face.
Kirkland landed a
big left hook to Julio’s face before the bell.
Julio’s corner decided not to
come out for the seventh round. It was over. James Kirkland had
won by TKO 6.
Congratulations to James
Kirkland, who proved that sometimes great will, can overpower
the man with the better skills. When asked who
Kirkland wants to
fight next, he said he’d fight whoever GBP puts in front of
him. Yawn. I hope
Kirkland fights
Alfredo Angulo next. After all, that is the most logical match
up for both guys. Let’s hope that Golden Boy Promotions makes
it happen. James Kirkland proved to this fan that yeah, he’s
the real deal.
* * *
Comments can be emailed to
dshark87@hotmail.com
