When James Kirkland dropped out of a scheduled November 8 fight vs. Gabriel Rosado on the undercard of Sergey Kovalev vs. Bernard Hopkins, speculation ensued that he may be in the running to take on Canelo Alvarez.
Kirkland had been named by Golden Boy President Oscar De La Hoya, along with Demetrius Andrade and Joshua Clottey, as the three most likely candidates to be Alvarez's next opponent. Andrade took exception, claiming he was named after he agreed to fight Matt Korobov for the vacant WBO middleweight title, while Kirkland had moved on to Rosado.
Additionally, part of the issue between Alvarez's team and Showtime was a reported refusal by Showtime to pay the massive licensing fee to put on an Alvarez-Clottey card, according to Showtime Sports executive Stephen Espinoza.
Kirkland, at 32-0-1 with 28 knockouts, would have been an exciting opponent against Alvarez, also considered a heavy-handed puncher. Clottey, 37, is past his physical prime and has had two extended layoffs since 2009. Nonetheless, he will be Alvarez's next opponent according to De La Hoya.
The fight will be Alvarez's first on HBO since he pummeled Shane Mosley in May 2012, five fights ago. Alvarez's next two fights were on Showtime, and after he knocked out Josesito Lopez he moved on to Showtime pay-per-view, where his last three fights were shown.
"Canelo is not fighting on pay per view," said De La Hoya. "It's on regular HBO for his fans."
Kirkland's next move is uncertain. According to Yahoo! Sports, he dropped out of the Rosado bout due to a dispute with promoter Curtis "50 Cent" Jackson; Michael Miller, Kirkland's manager and attorney, said that Jackson was "above board" with the fighter.
"Now, there's a dispute with 50 Cent over what [Kirkland] thought he heard and what I know I heard. He said 'People in the street, we don't do that. 50 told me the number is going to be x and by God, the number is going to be x," Miller said.
"Everyone tried to explain to him that 'x' was the number that [Jackson] was getting from HBO. ... But [Jackson] has got to make something. We all agreed that a promoter has to make something. I told him that [Jackson] was trying to be totally up front with him, but he was like, 'No. No. You weren't on the phone.' "
Miller expressed frustration at Kirkland's recent actions, as they've piled on to past behavior that continues to limit his options.
"It's frustrating, because I think some fair offers are being made and he's not taking them," Miller said. "When you say you're going to take an offer and then you don't, six or seven days later, patience starts to wear thin."
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