♪ announcer: the following isa presentation of hbo sports. hello. i'm jim lampley. on november 21, hbo pay-per-view takes you live to the mandalaybay events center in las vegas for the middleweightchampionship showdown between the premierpuerto rican fighter of the current generation--miguel cotto-- and the number-one mexican brandof the moment--canelo alvarez.
cotto holds the linealmiddleweight crown. canelo is the number-onejunior middleweight. and it's the latestin a historic line of memorable fights betweenmexican and puerto rican stars. so, to help get you readyfor cotto versus canelo, we're going to revisitthe 25-year-old alvarez's last appearance,an exciting firefight against unpredictabletexas tornado james kirkland in houston's minute maid stadiumon may 9.
it was one week to the day after the hyper-ballyhooedsuperfight between floyd mayweatherand manny pacquiao had laid a frustrating eggin las vegas. 31,000 boxing fans flocked tothe ballpark in downtown houston to see somethingentirely different, and that's what they got. let's go back and hearhow i called it with max kellermanand roy jones.
ok, those trunksare good there, those trunksare good there. james, give mea good, clean fight. obey my commands and protectyourselves at all times. canelo... [speaking spanish] kellerman: well,if you love action, and the big fight lastweek put you to sleep, wake up, becausemore likely than not,
one of these two isabout to go to sleep. lampley:this fight might knock you out. the relatively unknown trainer in james kirkland'scorner tonight is san antonio's rick morones. he's 32 years old.he's never trained a fighter of kirkland's qualityin a fight this big. [bell rings] canelo alvarez has beentrained his entire career
by the father-son teamin his corner, chepo reynoso and his son jose. round one begins.right hand over the top by canelo alvarez. roy, would you regard him more as an attacker ora counterpuncher? jones: well, he'sa counterpuncher, and tonight,he'll have to bea counterpuncher, because he'sfighting a guy who's
gonna beall over him. but he can fighteither way, jim. he can attack,or he can counter. lampley: canelo onthe defensive right now as kirkland fires away, and canelo keeps hisguard up in the corner. kellerman: canelo alreadyate a good right handfrom kirkland. it's one of the reasonshe's in the cornerright now. hard right handby canelo.
kirkland firing away. lands a left,lands another left. canelo's gettinghit by kirkland and he's stuck in the corner. but let's remember,kirkland is vulnerable, especially early. we saw itagainst angulo. he sometimes goestoo offensive early and against angulo wasdropped with a right hand.
and when he gets knocked down,sometimes it's because kirkland squareshis feet up and forgets to stay ina responsible boxing stance. he just got hurt badwith a left hook. just gothurt real badwith a left hook. canelo with thatgood left hook. oh, he got hurt badagain with it. canelo almost landeda third big left hook, but he's landed twogood ones in a row.
and a straightright handbehind it. they're willingto take that left hook instead of gambling oncanelo's right uppercut. kirkland opento the right hand. right hand leads downthe middle by alvarez. kirkland hurt again. hurt very bad, jim. both fighters have beenhurt in round one. hard right hand by canelo.
alvarez has a chancefor something big. i've never seenkirkland try to playrope-a-dope. that tells youhow hurt he must be. well, canelotaking his time and landing thebig shot low... a right hand.down goes kirkland. a minute still to goin the first round. possible opportunityfor a first-round knockout by canelo.
8. stay there. come here, come here,come here, come here. lampley: no stranger to gettingknocked down in round one, kirkland has tastedthe canvas here. jones: he should'vestayed closeto canelo. he must stayreally close.he can't outbox him, and he can'tbox with him. close range washis best option, because now,canelo is throwingwicked body shots,
wicked uppercuts, and canelo hasgotten comfortable. and canelo can't miss with the straightright hand. he is painting kirklandwith those shots. not from thatdistance, jim. now he's doingthe same thing that pacquiaodid last week-- he's stayingright in thewrong distance
to winthe fight. hard left hook by alvarez. kellerman: guys, the reasonwe know kirkland's name is preciselybecause he walks through stufflike this, but again, that's onlybeen with ann wolfe. the only other timehe didn't have her, he was knocked outin the first round, and he's in jeopardyhere in the first round.
another right hand. bad body shot. huge body shot by canelo. he's piecing thistogether brilliantly, ever since the earlyassault from kirkland that locked himin the corner. huge right hand. left hook to the body. canelo working, working.
jon schorle looking. and kirkland's gonnamake it out of the round just barely. that was an assault. [laughs] crowd is rocking and roaringin houston. more action inthe first round here than in 12 roundslast saturday night. mayweather and pacquiaocould fight 120 rounds.
they won't producethat much actionagainst each other. man: take advantage, man.keep them hands upall nice and tight. jones: here yousee canelo throw a left body shotfollowed by a straightright hand right down the pipe. that hurt,and that sent kirkland tothe canvasquickly. [whistle]
once again, wesee a straight right lead,blocked,body shot, straight rightdown the pipe. that right handwill put youdown every time. [crowd cheering] lampley: canelo's motheranna alvarez and girlfriend meldaboth reacting very positively to whatthey saw in round one. compubox numbers--alvarezwas 38 of 68 in round one.
36 of them were power connects. 10 to the body, just like thatleft hook to the body there. and another big left hookknocks kirkland into the ropes. alvarez landing everything. straight right.straight right.straight right. left to the body. kellerman: kirkland'sgonna get stopped if he doesn'tthrow some shots. tremendous shots.
how is hestill here?i don't know. incredible conditioningis the only answer. and punchingback. and stilltrying. uppercut by alvarez. he's hitting him witheverything but the kitchen sink and kirkland'sstill standing up. that's whythey call him the mandingowarrior, jim.
and now the mandingo warriorstarts to fire himself. he is throwing punches. amazing that he can survive that assault. he is throwing punchesand he's showinggreat resolve, but the punchesdon't yet havethe snap that they do whenhe starts to come back in these manyfights we've seen. well, because canelois smart enough
to attack the bodyas well as the head. he's notjust attackingto the head like most peoplemake the mistakeand do. and look at this, guys.canelo loves thiskind of fight. you can see it. this is whatyour boy triple g talks about when hesays mexican style. this ismexican style... at its best.
now kirkland once again pins canelo against the ropes. kirkland wentright-handedfor a minute. brings himself up intoa southpaw stance. throws some jabs, looking fora chance to land a left hand. reaching over the topand missing. and canelo getting a littlebit of a breather here. what heart--what heartkirkland has already shown. you couldn't finda bigger one, max.
99 out of 100 fightershave already lost this fight. twice. [laughs] good head movementby canelo alvarez. now he fires backto the body. good left-hand shotto the body. hurt kirkland again.straight right hand. here comes kirkland. it's an all-out warin round two. and these arebig, powerfuljunior middleweights
throwing bombswith every punch. how is hetaking thosebody shots, jim, i do not know. you wonder if canelo alvarezis punched out a little bit after all the throwing in thelast minute of the first round. no, he's not, jim.this is whathe's used to. this is whathe prepared for. as you know, he wastaking his time, economically pickinghis shots.
he wasn't just goinghaywire with them. so, he is notpunched out. that wasthe right uppercut team kirklandhoped to avoid. they're getting hitwith everything. but that uppercutlifted himoff the canvas. left to the body, right tothe body, right uppercut. another big rallyby alvarez. and he is tight.
tucker: keep yourfucking hands up! don't drop yourhands, son, at all! close your eyes.close your eyes. stay preparedfor that hook. he's wearingdown, man. hey. he'swearing down. that's whyyou see him-- he's takingbreaks on theropes again. hey? keepyour fuckinghands up.
get yourfeet together. keep that frontfoot in frontof you. don't square up,baby, ok? i got it. hey, don'tfight like this. spit? spit?spit? big breath. again. one more. jones: here yousee canelo land
a beautifulleft uppercut. what keeps kirklandup on his feet, you couldn't ask fora better-placedleft uppercut, just like thisleft hook, right onthe button. left hooksdon't get landed any cleanerthan this. i mean, wow. what a beard and whatconditioning
kirkland musthave right now. lampley: compubox numbersin round two-- alvarez landed 29 of 54. kirkland threw 90 punchesin the second round after almost gettingknocked out in the first round. only landed 16 of them, but landed some very hard shots. right uppercut is landing stillfor canelo alvarez. now kirkland beginsto throw to the body.
kellerman:kirkland's conditioningcoach bay-bay mcclinton said that the only athletehe's ever worked with, and he's workedwith a lot ofnba and nfl players, the only one thatcompares to kirkland in terms of his willis priest holmes. and kirklandhas that kind of great running backquality. when the play is over,his legs arestill churning. here's kirkland,arms still churning
after those firsttwo rounds. amazing. man. what will. how shocked would webe at this point if this fight went 12 rounds? oh, no way. no way. [laughter] this what youshould've gave$100 to see
if you wantedto see a fight. you got a boxingmatch last week. that's a differentthing than a fight. oh. oh. and this is a fight. yeah, this isa fight. this is notmuch skill,but a fight. a little skillbut less than what we seefrom the best.
but if there's a skilladvantage, it belongs to canelo alvarez,and that means the premium for kirklandis on heart and willand guts, and he has them allin abundance. so far, it'sskill over will, and kirkland has tochange that equation. perfect shots bycanelo alvarez. kirkland keeps coming. he can't keepgiving canelo
them big shots,though, jim. all thosebody shots. those body shotswill wearanybody down. what a savagebeating... this is target practicefor canelo alvarez. yes, it is. and kirkland's taking every shotand coming back. and tellingbecause--there he goes.
uppercut knockskirkland down. second knockdownof the fight. 3, 4, 5,6, 7. ok, baby? 8. stay there.come here, come here,come here. show me something. lampley: kirkland at great painsto let jon schorle know he's not knocked out,just knocked down.
second knockdown. right uppercutcontinues to land. there's a perfectstraight right hand, and schorle's gonnastop the fight. what a performanceby canelo alvarez. kellerman: maybeall things considered, the most electrifyingof canelo alvarez's career. talk aboutclosing the show. alvarez landed 20out of 28 punches
in the second round,all of them power shots, and that uppercutwas unbelievable tonight. jones: yeah, jim,the uppercutwas unbelievable. the overhand righteven moreunbelievable, but the guy, he--he made him do that. uh, kirkland put somuch pressure on him that he had toresort to justthrowing big shots. forget the jab.forget thetap shots. throw big shotstill you either
get him out of thereor get him off you. and they are still workingwith james kirkland on the deck, as canelo alvarez rem--thinks to himself about what he's been throughin an unbelievable fight. jones: that wasthat uppercut, jim, right up underthe left jab, which is why heabandoned the jab. he wanted kirklandto throw thosetype punches
so thathe could counter. once again,kirkland threwthat left hand, and then--the lefthand, he stuck itout like a jab, but thenhe countered itwith the uppercut, which is why youdon't stick late, lagging punchesout like that. you give a guysomethingto work off. so, through all ofthe firefight in there, canelo was thinkingthe whole time.
thinkingthe whole time. he looked downto the body rightwith a jab and comes rightover the top with the overhandright. he knew thatkirkland was prone to gettingknocked down, and if you canget knocked downlike that, it's not as hardto knock you out if you keep workingthe body shots.
if you watchhis attack, canelo always gotgood body shots in during thoseattacks. talking about body shots, there he aims lowand then fires upstairs. a perfect fake. that's what icall look downbut come up. ha ha! a brilliant displayby canelo alvarez.one more look.
remember--wilfred benitez knockout ofmaurice hope was almost theexact same punch. just withoutthe jab. he looked down, itcame over the top, and that'swhere you see real old-schoolboxing lessons right there wherecanelo alvarez just showed you.
wow. an amazing winfor alvarez. let's go to michael buffer forthe particulars on the knockout. buffer: ladies and gentlemen,here at houston, texas, in the tradition ofslugger versus slugger, the end comes at two minutes,19 seconds of round number 3, the winner by knockout victory, the fighting pride ofguadalajara, jalisco, mexico, saul "canelo"...
alvarez. lampley: i knowcompubox numbers, and once again,canelo landed 20 out of 28 in the third rounden route to the knockout. every one of themwas a power shot. all in all, he lands58% of his punches, landing 45 more than kirkland while throwing 47 fewer. kirkland not nearlyas accurate,
though he was throwing hard all the way through the secondand third rounds after having gotten hurt badlyin the first. power punches--canelo,79 out of 132. 60%. he had a willing target. he took advantage of it. he mixed hispunches brilliantly. kirkland landing 41 of 177, and some of those41 landed punches
were hellacious shots. but at the end of the day,canelo alvarez had too much skilland too much presence of mind for james kirkland. let's go to max kellermanwith the winner. kellerman:congratulations, canelo, on a sensational,electrifying,knockout win... in front ofall these people... how do you feelabout being
in a fightlike this? translator: i feel very good,i feel very happy with all the people thatare here supporting me. translator: this gives megreat motivation to get up in the morning,to keep running,to keep winning fights. thank you, everyone. but you've wonplenty of fightsin the past. this was ahigh-profile fight where the two of youwent to war.
it wasan action fight. what do you thinkabout that kindof fight? translator: kirklandis a great fighter. we knew he was gonnacome in, throw punches. you know, at the beginning, wewere both a little exhausted, but i knew it would happen. i knew we would win the fight. it seems to methat you prefer this kind offight to a larakind of fight,
where there'snot as much action. is that the case? translator: fighting a managainst--like kirkland, a man that comes,and comes to fight, is something that the publiclikes and that i love. did you feelafter last week'sbig fight that didn'tproduce fireworks, that you couldcreate somethingspecial here for boxing fanswho were
hungry forthat kind of fight? translator: personally, i don'tfocus on other fighters. i don't focus on other fights. i do what i do.i do what the people like, and that's what'simportant to me. so, let's focuson your next fight. you just took careof business. if cotto takes careof business in june, are you interestedin fighting cotto
before the endof this year? translator: i'm readyfor any rival. i don't run away from anyone.i'm ready for anyone. that's one ofthe things we alllove about you. does that includetriple g in thenot-too-distantfuture? gennady golovkin? translator: yes, why not?he's a great champion, he's a warrior, and that'sthe type of fighterthat i want to fight.
in the future, yes. thank you, canelo,for a spectacularshowing. ok. you ok? yeah...respect for you. thank you.you, too. james, congratulationson a tough showing. you jumped on himyou seemed to catch him witha right hand early. followed himinto the corner.
and then he seemedto start unloadingon you. how badly were youhurt in thatfirst round? honestly, first i wantto give thanks to god for this opportunitybecause without him, none of thisis possible. and--i should ask,can you even remember clearlya fight like that at a moment like thiswhen so many punches were exchanged?
most definitely.you know, i'ma fighter, so, most definitelyyou got to be able to know your insand your outs when it comes tobeing in the ring. uh...like i say, youknow, i got in there, putting work together. evidently, left my--left my left hand down and he came over the top and caught mewith a shot.
you know, i triedto regroup.the--the referee, he called it off, so,most definitely was-- i take nothing awayfrom canelo. he did an outstandingjob, but at the endof the day, you know, i'ma warrior, you know. i definitely likethat type of fighting, that type of exposure,you know, and that'sexactly what i needed. oh, you're a warrior.that's why everyoneloves you.
uh, boxing fans. but the way youusually win fights is you mayhave to get oversome rocky moments, and we've consistentlyseen you do that except forthe ishida fight. what was itabout canelo when even whenyou got back and you overcameand you shookthe cobwebs and you startedpressuring him,
what was itabout canelo that you ultimatelyweren't ableto overcome? um, as i say, you know,he's a crafty fighter. you know, he comewith a lot of skill, a lot of fights,you know. uh, take nothingaway from him. he was juston his ps and qs. and heshowed it tonight. thank you, james.we look forward toseeing you again. jim?
kirkland attacked low and hard, very much the waymiguel cotto does. canelo's accuratecounterpunching suggested he just mighthave the formula to lift the middleweight groundfrom cotto. we'll all find outthe night of november 21, when hbo pay-per-view brings you miguel cotto versuscanelo alvarez, puerto rico versus mexico,
live from las vegas. don't miss it.