Filed under: WBA, WBO, Golden Boy Promotions, Boxing Rumors, HBO
Southpaw junior middleweight (154 pounds) contender James Kirkland, imprisoned since April 2009 after pleading guilty to a charge of gun possession by a convicted felon, was released from Bastrop Federal Prison, Bastrop, Tex., on Thursday morning, will spend the remaining months of his sentence in an Austin, Tex., halfway house, and could be be back in the ring for a Nov. 6, HBO televised show, according to a report from BoxingScene.com.
Golden Boy Promotions' CEO, Richard Schaefer, told FanHouse on Sunday that he expected the 26-year-old Kirkland (25-0, 22 knockouts) to be released this week, adding that Kirkland was a likely candidate for the under card of the Nov. 6, HBO televised junior welterweight (140 pounds) main event featuring southpaw former three-time titlist Zab Judah (38-6, 26 KOs) of New York and unbeaten knockout artist Lucas Matthysse (27-0, 25 KOs) of Argentina at the Prudential Center in Newark, New Jersey.
Reached on Thursday, however, Schaefer said that Kirkland may be more a candidate for a December show.
"Yes, James Kirkland is released, so we're happy to have one of the best fighters, pound-for-pound, and one of the most exciting fighters in the world back in the sport. But we're not sure that Nov. 6 is going to be the date that he will be fighting. We might be moving that back to December because the fact is that he was released a little bit later than we thought," said Schaefer.
"We want to make sure that he has enough time to train properly and to be prepared, so there really is no need to rush," said Schaefer. "So rather than November, it might be December that you see him back in the ring."
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