Tale of the Tape
| Canelo Alvarez | James Kirkland | |
|---|---|---|
| Record | 44-1-1, 31 KOs | 32-1, 28 KOs |
| Age | 24 | 31 |
| Height | 5’9” | 5’9” |
| Reach | 70 ½" | 70” |
| Weight | 155 | 155 |
| Stance | Orthodox | Orthodox |
| Hometown | Juanacatlán, Jaslico, Mexico | Austin, TX |
| Rounds Boxed | 311 | 110 |
Canelo Alvarez may be younger than James Kirkland, but he has nearly three times as much experience as his opponent to make up for it. A few differences aside, the tape shows us Canelo and Kirkland have two similarities worth noting. Both fighters are the same height and have practically the same reach. Canelo’s half-inch reach advantage is small but important for him when he wants to work on the outside.
Reach, in terms of outside boxing, doesn’t mean as much to Kirkland because he doesn’t do his work on the outside, or even use his jab to set up his inside work. He likes to come straight forward and occasionally throw his jab as an afterthought.
Both fighters being identical in height will make for an interesting match up between Canelo, an orthodox fighter, and Kirkland, a southpaw. Working on the inside can be quite awkward when two opposite stances clash. On the inside, Canelo’s arm reach may feel a lot shorter to Kirkland than Kirkland’s feel to him because Canelo’s inside punches are so crisp and calculated.
Neither Canelo nor Kirkland appear to have extremely long torsos, so it will be interesting to see how each of them works to find the body without getting caught by each other.
