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James Kirkland looks to remain undefeated taking on Allen Conyers in a Junior Middleweight bout on Shobox The New Generation
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00:00On the Showtime Sports Calendar, visit our website at show.com.
00:07Back to the moment, it's late fall, holiday cheer in the air already,
00:12and we're in Santa Ynez, California, back at the Tumash Casino Resort
00:16to close out another season of Showbox.
00:21Another strong crowd every time we come here,
00:24fight fans settling in for our main events.
00:30Unbeaten power-punching, James Kirkland returns to Showbox
00:33for a fourth appearance to take on Alan Conyers,
00:36who put together the most impressive performance of his career
00:40on Showbox earlier this year.
00:45Nick Charles with Steve Farhood ringside in the perfect spot,
00:48and then after that torrid display we just saw,
00:51these guys got a lot to try to live up to,
00:54and they both had the potential to do it.
00:56Steve, it's always that case, that potentially explosive,
01:00performance when James Kirkland fights.
01:02Same time, the question is for the opponent who has to meet this guy,
01:05and this is Alan Conyers' question for you,
01:07how does he blunt Kirkland's aggression,
01:10and not just survive, but win the fight?
01:12I think his best bet is to blunt Kirkland's aggression, Nick, with aggression.
01:16Alan Conyers brings something to the fight against Kirkland
01:20that Kirkland's other Showbox opponents didn't bring,
01:22which is punching power.
01:23We don't know about Kirkland's chin yet.
01:25Kirkland is likely to make Conyers' fight.
01:27But Conyers could very well get knocked out if he gets into a game of Russian roulette.
01:31But you know what?
01:32Going for the knockout is probably his best ticket to victory.
01:35Well, he said if he feels Kirkland's stronger, he's going to try to box him.
01:38That could prove fatal as well,
01:40because Kirkland's best defense is his offense,
01:42and he's full steam ahead.
01:43As we look at him again,
01:45you've probably seen him many times.
01:47He's a thrill a minute to watch.
01:4923 years old, 6-year pro,
01:50whose boxing career was interrupted by a year in jail.
01:54Kirkland's been on Showbox three times this year.
01:59First in February, the Southpaw Slugger kept the heat on against Tough,
02:05but outclassed Billy Lyle.
02:07Lyle could take a shot, body and head,
02:10but nothing coming back as Kirkland had it all his way
02:16before the referee stopped the fight after 8.
02:19In June, he returned to face season vet Ozzy Duran.
02:23Kirkland floored Duran in the first,
02:25but couldn't finish him off
02:27as he went 10 rounds for the first time
02:30and won a unanimous decision.
02:36Three months ago, he was back on Showbox
02:38against the durable Mohamed Saeed.
02:41Kirkland looked to inhale his opponent that night.
02:45Speed, power, accuracy.
02:47And although Saeed battled back,
02:50he hit the deck three times.
02:57And went down in flames in two.
03:00James Kirkland on the threshold of becoming a contender,
03:03now 20-0 with 17 K-0s.
03:06Steve, take us behind the numbers.
03:07Well, this is a new challenge, Nick.
03:09Kirkland's been matched with tough guys
03:10in Lyle, Duran, and Saeed,
03:12but not big punchers.
03:13In that sense, Conyers is a different kind of test.
03:17New year.
03:18For Kirkland, 2006 and 07 were all about getting busy.
03:222008 will be all about getting a legitimate top 10 ranking.
03:25He hasn't yet faced a top 20 fighter.
03:28And steamrolling Southpaw.
03:29Last time out on Showbox,
03:30Kirkland showed how devastating he can be blowing out Saeed.
03:34Don't be surprised if he does the same
03:35to the naturally smaller, Conyers.
03:39Alan Conyers got a late start in boxing after high school.
03:42He had only 11 amateur fights
03:44and didn't turn pro until he was 25.
03:46Conyers came to Showbox this past February.
03:49First time over the welterweight limit.
03:52He was the underdog against unbeaten prospect Derek Ennis.
03:55It was a high-voltage, entertaining fight from the beginning.
03:59Conyers was wobbled here in the first.
04:02And then came on in the second round.
04:06Swarming attack.
04:09Offensive blitz.
04:11That finally overwhelmed Ennis.
04:16Alan Conyers had stepped up in class
04:19and won the biggest fight of his career.
04:21Now 31 years old, he says.
04:23Kirkland's the guy overhyped,
04:25and he's going to prove it tonight.
04:26Alan Conyers from the Bronx.
04:2811-2, 9 KOs.
04:30Take us behind those numbers, Steve.
04:32Lefties, briefly.
04:34Two of Conyers' three most recent bouts
04:36came against the Southpaws.
04:37Both were first-round KOs.
04:39This fight could be decided by first one to the trigger.
04:42Fighting rust.
04:43Conyers hasn't fought in nine months, as Nick said.
04:47But what's new?
04:48Inactivity has always plagued him.
04:50He's 31 years old.
04:51He's fought only 13 times.
04:53A tougher test.
04:54Conyers has been in with Delvin Rodriguez,
04:56who was 11-1-1,
04:57and Derek Ennis, who was 10-0-1.
04:59His comp has been better than Kirkland's,
05:01but only slightly.
05:03Main event time on Showbox.
05:05James Kirkland, ready to battle Alan Conyers
05:09in our 10-round junior middleweight attraction.
05:12Let's go back to ring announcer Jake Gutierrez.
05:16Once again, ladies and gentlemen,
05:18we welcome you to the Chumash Casino Resort
05:20here in Santa Ynez, California,
05:23where all of tonight's action is being brought to you
05:25by Gary Shaw Productions
05:27in association with the Santa Ynez Band of Chumash Indians
05:30and Showtime.
05:32This bout is sanctioned by the California State Athletic Commission,
05:35the executive officer is Armando Garcia.
05:38The three judges scoring this bout
05:41will be Max DeLuca, Marty Dinkin, and Lou Filippo,
05:45and your referee in charge is Ray Corona.
05:49And now, ladies and gentlemen,
05:50from the Chumash Casino Resort
05:52here in Santa Ynez, California,
05:55it's time for the leather to fly.
05:58This is the Showbox main event of the evening.
06:0210 rounds of boxing in the junior middleweight division.
06:08Introducing first,
06:09and he fights out of the blue corner.
06:11He entered the ring wearing the black trunks
06:13with white trim,
06:14and he weighed in at 150 and a quarter pounds.
06:17He has a very fine professional record,
06:20including 11 victories with only two defeats,
06:23nine big wins by knockout.
06:25From the Bronx, New York,
06:27here is the dream shatterer,
06:30Alan Booby.
06:32Tony Conyers!
06:36And his opponent,
06:38fighting out of the red corner.
06:39He's wearing the solid black trunks,
06:41and he weighed in at 152 pounds.
06:44His professional record is unblemished.
06:4720 victories, no losses,
06:4917 big wins by knockout.
06:51From Austin, Texas,
06:53introducing James Mandingo Kirkland!
07:02Let's go.
07:03Two seconds.
07:04Two seconds.
07:07Look, this is good here.
07:08You guys listen to my commands.
07:10Touch gloves, touch them.
07:11God bless.
07:15Contracted weight for this fight, 152,
07:17something Kirkland says he was unaware of
07:19until late in training.
07:20He definitely drained himself to make weight,
07:22but he managed to make it on his first try on the scale.
07:27And once again,
07:28the California rules,
07:30in effect,
07:31supersede the unified rules.
07:32No standing eight,
07:33no three knockdown.
07:35Referee or doctor could stop the fight.
07:37Ray Corona's our referee.
07:40Wow,
07:40that first one was over in a hurry.
07:43And man,
07:44was it fun to watch.
07:45And James Kirkland has a habit of doing that.
07:47Look at him,
07:48jumping all over Conyers.
07:50So Conyers under siege immediately.
07:52Oh,
07:53he looks like he's got to shake it off and survive now.
07:55Steve,
07:56you talked about him having to battle back.
07:58He better hold on right now.
07:59He's got to get Kirkland's respect.
08:01Kirkland walking into shots.
08:03And here comes Conyers,
08:04rocking him with a right hand.
08:06Bombs away, Nick.
08:07It's Conyers' only chance to win.
08:08And here he goes.
08:09A right hand staggers Conyers.
08:12Kirkland,
08:13Kirkland down
08:13as Conyers followed up with another right.
08:16So Kirkland walking in to a huge punch.
08:20And his momentum carried him
08:21into a compressive blow.
08:24And we're going to learn a lot about James Kirkland right now.
08:27He's never dealt with adversity in his career.
08:29And he is having his world rocked.
08:32Conyers vowed to do this
08:34and expose Kirkland.
08:35Kirkland's got to get his wits about it.
08:39Kirkland punching back
08:40instead of holding it.
08:41And it's working.
08:42And Conyers got hurt there.
08:43So take a step back.
08:44Wow.
08:45How much energy can he have left?
08:47Oh, and he gets knocked.
08:49Just a strafing left hand.
08:52And Conyers is shaking off badly.
08:55Four fighters down
08:56in a tremendous first round.
08:59Seven.
09:00Hey, you want to continue?
09:01Come to me.
09:02Come to me.
09:02Nick, we're not two minutes in yet.
09:04Oh, man.
09:05Keep it in line, Nick.
09:06I don't know.
09:07Oh, Conyers backing up.
09:09He's looking for a place to hide right now.
09:12Oh, he isn't.
09:13He's coming back.
09:14Trying to blitz Kirkland.
09:17Here comes Kirkland trying to string shots together.
09:21Thudding to the body.
09:23And now they trade,
09:24and it's a real war again.
09:26And Conyers full of fight.
09:28He's getting rocked back again.
09:30Pushed back.
09:31Powered back.
09:32Take a step back.
09:33Conyers looks more hurt than Kirkland was when Kirkland was down.
09:36Oh, look at how he's bruised.
09:37You're right under the right eye.
09:40Kirkland now zeroing in.
09:42Big shots.
09:45Conyers looks wobbly again.
09:47Look at his legs.
09:49Kirkland stalking with intent.
09:53Catching him on the back end of that right hand.
09:56And here comes the hook.
09:57The straight left power shot.
09:59Take a step back.
10:00Do either one of these guys believe in holding?
10:01Oh, this is a great fight.
10:05Oh, Conyers in trouble again.
10:07Here comes Kirkland with a blitz.
10:11Legs are absolutely gone on Conyers.
10:13How's he going to get out of this round?
10:15One more punch and it's all.
10:16He's got to hold on.
10:18And here he's trying to trade.
10:19He's going to go down again in flames if he goes down.
10:23What courage from Alan Conyers.
10:26And what resolve from James Kirkland.
10:29Who never had a bad moment or ring down for the first time in his unbeaten career.
10:3610 seconds to go in this dynamic number.
10:40No, no.
10:41Well, it's way brought down.
10:43Three knocked out.
10:44And Conyers doesn't know where he is.
10:49Can't be saved by the bell.
10:53Doctor in the ring.
10:55Remember, referee doctor can stop the fight.
10:57It's over here.
11:00You did it.
11:02You did it.
11:03You did it.
11:10One more punch the heart.
11:12I don't have my breath.
11:15You know what?
11:16If this isn't round of the year, you know, in terms of.
11:19And then you got to say, well, fight of the year.
11:20What's on the line here?
11:22A guy with 13 fights.
11:24Conyers full of heart.
11:25I mean, it talks talk of courage and guts.
11:30Well, we nailed it, Nick.
11:31We said Conyers, his best bet was to come out shooting.
11:33And whether he wanted to box or not was irrelevant because Kirkland made him fight.
11:39But now you got the bad side for Kirkland.
11:42He got dropped.
11:43He showed no regard for defense.
11:44The good side.
11:45He never has.
11:46He never has, Steve.
11:47And again, those are the kind of holes in a guy's game that have to be shorn up.
11:51You know, he may be top 10 according to a lot of organizations.
11:55And man, he looked absolutely dynamic.
11:57That was a blitzkrieg tonight.
11:59But he also looked vulnerable.
12:01He was dropped.
12:02Good side again.
12:04Dealing with adversity.
12:05Putting a bad moment behind you.
12:07It's the kind of instinctual attack that a guy has with this kind of a pit bull mentality of Kirkland.
12:13No defense.
12:15All offense.
12:15Kirkland gets hit with everything.
12:17And he got hit and dropped again.
12:19But again, he got hit by a guy who was a welterweight most of his career.
12:25But at the same time, we knew could really punch.
12:28Right.
12:28So he got hit very flush.
12:30And he showed a boatload of courage getting up and really finishing the job.
12:34Do you believe that?
12:34That was the longest round I've ever seen for a round that was so exciting.
12:38Well, Kirkland was down at the 32nd mark.
12:41And Conyers was down shortly after that.
12:44So these guys, I mean, one thing about Kirkland, he had a chance to punch himself out.
12:49And he didn't.
12:50Granted, it was only the first round.
12:51But first round or not, it was a very long round.
12:54Because Kirkland not only had to get up off the floor, but he had to show offense for the remainder
12:58of the round.
12:59Okay.
13:00So we're going to catch our breath and have Jake Gutierrez make it official.
13:04Sir?
13:06It's me right here.
13:09Ladies and gentlemen, referee Ray Corono stops this bout at 2 minutes 56 seconds of the first round.
13:16The winner by a knockout victory in a tremendous bout, James Mandingo Kirkland!
13:30Wow.
13:32Yeah, 21 and oh, the hard way.
13:36Heart-stopping performance.
13:39I can't believe it.
13:42We got to see the whole thing here again.
13:44We had two first round knockouts.
13:46And Kirkland absolutely climbed all over Conyers.
13:50And I thought, this guy's in serious trouble.
13:53But watch Conyers come back with power.
13:56Nick, it was less than five seconds into the fight.
13:58And Conyers was pinned on the ropes.
14:00That's what Kirkland's intensity does to a fighter.
14:03But you see who landed the first big shot.
14:05It was Conyers right there fighting very smart because he's creating room for his shots.
14:10He moved back, but he was still punching with the right hand.
14:12And that's the result.
14:1330 seconds in.
14:14And James Kirkland on his butt for the first time in his career.
14:18Now watch how Kirkland decides to respond.
14:21Well, look at him.
14:22He can't wait to go again.
14:26Now he's off the leash.
14:27He's getting backed up again.
14:29And Conyers gathering confidence.
14:32He's got to go for it, Steve.
14:33You're right.
14:33And he is airing it out here.
14:36He did go for it.
14:37But by going for it, he left himself open.
14:39I said between fights that this was very possibly going to be a game of Russian roulette.
14:43That's exactly what it was.
14:45Yeah, this real shootout.
14:46Left hand.
14:47And Conyers doesn't know where he is.
14:49And his legs were never the same after this.
14:53And that's the kind of explosive force that Kirkland showed us with one punch.
14:58And that's a very...
15:01Okay, that's a very slow count also.
15:04Well, Ray Corona telling the doctor to keep a close eye.
15:10And telling the fighter, the stricken fighter, to battle back.
15:14And that's just what Alan Conyers tries to do.
15:20He elects not to hang on.
15:23And Kirkland accumulation of hard, solid shots.
15:28Boy, at this point...
15:29And Nick, you pointed out.
15:31And Conyers' legs already pretty much gone.
15:34Look at him.
15:34He's stumbling.
15:35But he never stopped with the puncher's mentality.
15:38He kept that right hand going.
15:39And he landed a few.
15:41The difference?
15:42The way each guy responded to when he got knocked down.
15:45Kirkland took the offensive immediately after going down.
15:47And still had enough left to hurt Conyers.
15:49Well, then you talk about who's got, you know, tested for chin.
15:54Does Kirkland have a rock-solid chin?
15:55He's vulnerable.
15:56He got hit flush.
15:57He did go down, but shook it right off.
16:01As you said, recovering much better.
16:03Look at that.
16:04He just...
16:05Get out of there!
16:06Absolutely straight-armed him there.
16:08And just when it appeared that Conyers was going to make it, it was after the 10-second warning
16:13that Conyers went down.
16:15The referee went down.
16:16You're going to see that in a few seconds.
16:18Yeah, here comes that flurry.
16:19I mean, this is incredible that Conyers lasted as long as he did.
16:23I think if Corona wanted to stop it, he could have just looked at Conyers' legs and said,
16:27Yeah, that's enough.
16:29Go!
16:30Go!
16:31Take a step back.
16:31All the way back.
16:33You got to take a step back.
16:34Look at those legs.
16:40Looks like Trevor Burbick there against Tyson.
16:43Two knockdowns for the price of one.
16:48Wow.
16:53James Kirkland had fun tonight.
16:54A humbling experience, adverse conditions for the first time in his fighting life.
17:00But in the end, it was three minutes of hell.
17:05But he came hell and back, didn't he?
17:07He sure did.
17:08An impressive win, but also a win that creates some questions about James Kirkland.
17:13He was in with a puncher, but a puncher who was a natural welterweight.
17:16Conyers only fighting for the second time at junior middle, and Conyers' power certainly
17:20had an effect on James Kirkland.
17:22Very impressed with James Kirkland.
17:23And we're going to talk with him in a minute.
17:26But we want to remind you, more potentially explosive action coming your way on Showtime
17:32Championship Boxing tomorrow night.
17:35For fighters around the world, only one night matters, one night to achieve their dreams.
17:41And that night's on the first Saturday of every month.
17:44Tomorrow, Showtime ends 2007 with two boxing superstars.
17:48Antonio Tarver, former undisputed champion and future Hall of Famer.
17:52Vernon Forrest, super welterweight champ on a tear to unify the division.
17:56Titles will be on the line and reputations at stake.
17:59Forrest vs. Picorillo, Tarver vs. Santiago, tomorrow at 9, only on Showtime.
18:11And Steve Farhood now with the winner, James Kirkland.
18:16James, in an absolutely incredible round, maybe the round of the year, you forced him
18:22to fight right off the bat.
18:24But he landed the first big shot and you went down.
18:26First knockdown of your career.
18:27What were you thinking at that point?
18:29Well, it really wasn't like a flash knockdown, you know.
18:32Something just started me off on my feet, got back on my feet, and maintained what we
18:37was trained to do.
18:38And I'm a beast and I'm going to continue to keep going.
18:40As you see here, he caught me with not a spectacular punch, but I went down for it.
18:45But I made him pay as usual.
18:48When you went down, there it is.
18:49I mean, that's no flash knockdown.
18:51Well, you could have been called down when your glove touched the ground.
18:54But that's a legitimate knockdown.
18:56After the referee counted, you looked like a sprinter.
18:58You wanted to get back at him so hard, so quickly.
19:00Because that was a mistake, you know.
19:03I wasn't listening to my corner.
19:04I saw the opportunity to catch him and then missed the shot and got caught in the mix
19:09with not listening to my trainers.
19:10But as you see, I'm going to get back up.
19:12I'm a warrior.
19:13I really didn't get hit with a hard shot, you know.
19:15Started me off my feet.
19:16I fell back because I was already off balance, as you can see.
19:19Fell backwards, got back up, took the eight count and respected the decision and went
19:23out there and fight like a pursue.
19:25Well, that was only the start of the fight, of course, because you came back and knocked
19:28Conyers down.
19:30And from that point on, Conyers legs were gone.
19:32But he took an incredible amount of shots.
19:34Let's look at it here, James.
19:35You're going to see the knockdown.
19:37When you come back in the same round, not that long after, his legs were already gone
19:41at this point.
19:42But he hung on almost until the end of the round.
19:44Yes, sir.
19:45That's all right.
19:45You know, as you can tell, that left hand's a beast.
19:48Look, boom!
19:48And he goes down once.
19:50Oh, my goodness.
19:51I didn't know that was like that.
19:52But that's, you know.
19:55I'll give a shout out to everybody who helped me train.
19:59And with the boxing team and the rest of the fighters out there in Long Beach and Hollywood.
20:06Appreciate it.
20:09James, we're going to take a look at the end of the fight right now.
20:12Again, he almost made it to the end of the round.
20:15But did you get a little arm weary there?
20:17No, I didn't get arm weary.
20:19I see that he was already hurt.
20:21I seen his legs was gone.
20:23So I wanted to just take advantage of the opportunity that I had.
20:27As we look at the end, James, you're undefeated.
20:30You really hadn't faced a lot of adversity in the ring.
20:33And this is the first time that you had to overcome adversity.
20:37What do you think you said and told, you know, the rest of the junior middleweights
20:40and all the boxing fans out there about how you handle this and where you're going?
20:44Yeah, you just got to, sometime you got to respect your opponent and listen to your coaches
20:48and take the advice they give you, not just go off your own mind frame and your hunt mentality.
20:54So, you know, as far as this lesson today, I'm going to continue listening to my training as always
20:58and looking forward for bigger and better fights, especially an opportunity for a world title shot.
21:03Yesterday when we were talking about your future, you said you were a little bit,
21:06you were growing a little bit impatient.
21:08You wanted that breakthrough fight.
21:09Well, this fight was certainly an incredible action fight.
21:12You won it, but you showed a little vulnerability, getting knocked down for the first time in your career.
21:16What does this fight tell you about where you should be going in the immediate future?
21:20The same steps that we've been talking about.
21:23We need a major step up, a title shot or something for the bigger future, you know, for the future.
21:28You know, as far as that, you know, I'm just looking for bigger and better opponents, you know.
21:33Nothing has changed at all.
21:35You know, I'm still hungry.
21:36As you can see, I'm still standing and I'm still strong.
21:38And I want whoever's the strongest, whoever they think is the biggest person out there right now in 154.
21:44So, James Kirkland goes to 21-0, 18 knockouts and an incredible first round KO win.
21:52Nick, back to you.
21:53Hey, an astonishing night on show box start to finish.
21:57Two rounds of explosive boxing, power pack display.
22:02We want to take you through it.
22:03It happened so fast.
22:05And I'm hoping you didn't miss it.
22:07But if you did, here it is again.
22:09Here we go.
22:10Earlier tonight, this card started with unbeaten Alfredo Angulo in the silver and black.
22:17Coming after Arcek Termolek Setian.
22:19Termolek Setian had lost four of his last five.
22:22Vowed to sit down on his shots and punch, but also control range.
22:26But he has a bad habit.
22:28Once he gets hit or once he'll land with some power shots, he'll want to go to war.
22:33He's got that KO mentality.
22:35Angulo, a very seasoned guy with only ten fights.
22:39Fought in the 2004 Olympics for Mexico.
22:42And he is not an idle fighter.
22:44What he lacks in blazing hand speed, he makes up for making every shot count.
22:50Excellent selection here.
22:51After Arcek scoring early and now gaining confidence as he wants to go to war.
22:57And that was a bad mistake as we see them trade.
23:01And here comes Angulo ripping Termolek Setian.
23:06And Nick, you know, what was fantastic about these two first round stoppages is that in both cases, the guy
23:13who ended up losing actually started faster and had the other guy on the defensive.
23:18I mean, you saw Arcek starting fast landing shots.
23:21That's eventually what did him in.
23:23But if you just saw the results of these two fights, you see KO-1 and KO-1, you think,
23:27ah, they were blowouts.
23:28Yeah, they were blowouts, all right.
23:30But the guy that won almost got beat, you know, especially in the Conyers-Kirkland fight.
23:35But Arcek had his moments in the first minute of this fight as well.
23:38He absolutely did.
23:39This one over inside two minutes, a fiery rush and just more high-voltage stuff all around.
23:48And you saw James Kirkland not just icing on the cake.
23:54Steve, we went into this main event saying, man, these guys got a lot to live up to based on
23:59that first fight and the way Angulo wiped out his opponent.
24:03And Kirkland and Conyers, neither guy disappointed.
24:06You talked about it going in, how Conyers really has to blunt Kirkland's aggression by getting his respect and pushing
24:13him back and going for it.
24:15Yeah, Conyers went for it, I think, because he had to go for it.
24:18He had no choice but to fight.
24:19But in looking at Kirkland, Nick, first time he's faced adversity, first time he's been down, responded well, scored a
24:26first-round knockout.
24:27You can't do much better than that.
24:28But I think we have to look at him now in a new light because prior to this on Showbox,
24:32he pretty much overwhelmed everybody.
24:33He didn't overwhelm Conyers, but he still won, and that tells me something about him.
24:37Well, I thought he put his punches together in such a blitzing fashion that I thought he did overwhelm them.
24:42I would take you to task on that.
24:45And also, I disagreed with him, and you took him to task, the fact that he really got hit.
24:50That was no flash knockdown.
24:51We talked about warning signals in that it's nice if a guy's defense is his offense, and that's really entertaining.
24:58But there are holes in his game.
24:59He got dropped.
25:00I liked what he did mentally and emotionally, you know, the mental toughness to put that right behind him and
25:05go after and just chop this guy down.
25:07But I really thought he put his shots together.
25:10He showed me single-shot power with that left hand, and also, of course, those accumulation of punches with real
25:16intent.
25:16He could put the hurt on you.
25:17Yeah, and he threw a lot of punches.
25:19The biggest problem for James Kirkland, and this is no surprise, we saw this with the lighter punchers he faced,
25:23is that he gets hit with too many right hands.
25:25Not unusual for a southpaw.
25:27But tonight, he paid the price for getting hit with the right hands.
25:30You know, when you overwhelm everybody, you don't learn anything.
25:33You know, you don't have to be technically sound.
25:36I think maybe tonight was a good lesson for him because he's going to have to think about defense a
25:40little bit.
25:40And, of course, as you move up in class, James Kirkland's not going to overwhelm everybody and score one-round
25:46knockouts against contenders.
25:47It just doesn't happen with any fighter.
25:48Hey, I'd love to see these kind of fights every show box, every fight.
25:52A fiery, full-blooded night here in San Ynez, California.
25:56Two explosive performances.
25:57First-round KOs.
25:58Let's recap it again.
26:00Alfredo Angulo, the former Mexican Olympian, came in and did a number.
26:05The power arriving early.
26:06A meltdown of Archak Termolek Cetian.
26:09First-round KO.
26:10Boy, a lot happened in this fight.
26:12In 79 seconds, Archak started out well.
26:17Landed a lot of shots.
26:18Took a lot of shots.
26:19He can't take them anymore.
26:20James Kirkland overcame the first knockdown of his career and then tore up and spit out Alan Conyers, wiping him
26:29out in one.
26:30You know, once in a while we did it right.
26:31We thought this would be a shootout.
26:33One round, James Kirkland off the floor for the first time in his career, facing adversity for the first time.
26:39He faced adversity and he won.
26:43Wow, what a way to close the year.
26:44You know, happy about it.
26:46Tomorrow night, boxing tripleheader from Connecticut, the next event on the Showtime sports calendar.
26:51For the complete slate of events, log on to our website at show.com.
26:55And that'll do it for this edition of Showbox, the new generation.
27:00The executive producer of Showbox is Gordon Hall.
27:04Showbox is produced by Richard Gaughan and directed by Rick Phillips.
27:08For Steve Farhood and our entire crew, this is Nick Charles.
27:12Thanks for being with us for this final Showbox of the year.
27:14Happy holidays and so long from California.
27:28For fighters around the world, only one night matters.
27:32One night to achieve their dreams.
27:34And that night's on the first Saturday of every month.
27:37Tomorrow, Showtime ends 2007 with two boxing superstars.
27:41Antonio Tarver, former undisputed champion and future Hall of Famer.
27:45Vernon Forrest, super welterweight champ on a tear to unify the division.
27:49Titles will be on the line and reputations at stake.
27:52Forrest versus Picarrillo, Tarver versus Santiago, tomorrow at 9, only on Showtime.
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