Young Stars Shine: TKO Wins for Ortiz & Kirkland

Michael Nelson recaps all the action from last night's HBO BAD triple-header.

Victor Ortiz and James Kirkland took one more step towards the top of their respective divisions Saturday night when Victor blew out Mike Arnaoutis in two rounds, and Kirkland broke down Joel Julio, stopping him in six. The opening bout ended in a disappointing No Decision when Robert Guerrero made it clear he couldn’t continue after suffering a gash over his right eye in the 2nd round due to a clash of heads with Daud Cino Yordan.

From the opening moments of the main event, it was clear that Joel Julio had his hands full with the suffocating pressure James Kirkland draped over him. Julio retreated as Kirkland swarmed, landing thudding blows to the body and a host of straight lefts off of Joel’s noggin. By the end of the round, a cut had developed over Julio’s right eye, further evidence that he was in for a rough night.

In the 2nd round, Julio started landing straight right hands, but still looked far out of his comfort zone. He was not used to moving; tensely bouncing around the ring, wasting a lot of energy. Kirkland continued to exert his will, shooting punches from a variety of angles and mixing in right hooks to the body.

The 3rd began with Kirkland remaining steadfastly on the prowl. If James’ voracious style is that of a school of piranhas, the water was now saturated with blood. Julio momentarily settled down and the two traded heavy blows midway through the round, with Julio appearing to finally get Kirkland’s attention, if not briefly stunning him.

The 4th and 5th saw Kirkland, now slightly more controlled and deliberate, continue to walk down his tiring foe. The success Joel had earlier was short lived; while he occasionally snapped Kirkland’s head back with a straight right hand, it did little to discourage Kirkland from consistently touching him with straight lefts, uppercuts, and right hooks. Missing the foot work necessary to smoothly circle an aggressive, stronger opponent, Julio continued to move around the ring in awkward bounds, looking as if he wanted the fight to end sooner than later. Moreover, his right eye was quickly closing.

The situation only got more grave in the 6th. James slammed lefts and rights into Joel’s rib cage, intent on making his faltering opponent quit. Julio soldiered on, but his eye was closing and his mouth was agape searching for a second wind. The fight had become a one-sided drubbing and it seemed just a matter of time before Kirkland ended the proceedings with a definitive blow.

With the writing on the wall, Julio’s corner indicated to referee Raul Caiz Jr. that they had seen enough shortly after the 6th ended. Raul waved the fight off, capping off Kirkland’s most impressive win to date.

James Kirkland improved to 25-0 with 22 knockouts with his dominant victory over Joel Julio, who fell to 34-3 with 31 knockouts.

The preceding bout between Victor Ortiz (pictured left with his NABO belt) and Mike Arnaoutis began far more slowly than the main event. The opening stanza was the definition of a feel-out round, with neither man landing anything of significance.

The 2nd began as the 1st ended, with the two combatants circling each other looking for an opening. But Ortiz was clearly the more comfortable fighter, so when Arnaoutis threw a lazy right jab midway through the round, Victor jumped on the opportunity, quickly slipping it and coming back with a powerful left hand that staggered Mighty Mike, driving him into the corner.

Arnaoutis covered up as Ortiz swarmed him with punches, one of them a crushing uppercut that briefly dropped Arnaoutis’ guard. Referee Ray Balewicz saw that as evidence of a man no longer capable of defending himself and stopped the bout. While the referee may have been a bit quick on the trigger, Arnaoutis was getting pounded and wasn’t offering anything in return.

With his impressive show of power, Victor Ortiz is now 24-1-1 with 19 KOs while Mike Arnaoutis dropped to 21-3-2 with 10 KOs.

Daud Cino Yordan surprised many in the opening bout when he was able to land eye-catching right hands and left hooks on the heavily favored Robert Guerrero in the first round. Despite Yordan’s skill level, the fight seemed destined to be an ugly one, at least as long as referee John Schorle allowed Yordan to grab Guerrero on the inside to avoid Guerrero’s withering body attack. The action was staccato, marred by constant clinching. Nevertheless, it was mainly controlled by the 21 year old from Indonesia, which at least added an element of drama early.

That drama was abruptly truncated in the 2nd round after Guerrero and Yordan clashed heads, resulting in a cut directly above Guerrero’s right eye. Guerrero looked at Schorle several times in the 40 seconds that followed, indicating that the gash was bothering him.

Schorle called time. While walking to the ropes for the ring doctor to take a look at it, Guerrero told Schorle that he couldn’t see. Schorle told the ring doctor that Guerrero indicated he couldn’t see, and Guerrero confirmed that the blood dripping in his eye impaired his vision. The doctor, seemingly going solely on Guerrero’s contention that the blood was blinding him, and not on his own diagnosis of how serious the cut was, told the Schorle to stop the fight, and the bout was summarily waved off.

Normally, a doctor wipes the blood off of a cut to take a better look at how deep it is and how likely it is to continue bleeding throughout a fight. Ideally, the same would have been done in this case; while the cut was in a bad spot, it’s within reason that the bleeding could have been halted in the corner, minimizing the significance of the gash and its location.

It's hard to second guess an injured fighter, but you have to wonder if Guerrero may have been more willing to continue if he was in with an opponent a little bit less elusive and less accurate with the right hand. Nevertheless, the fight was declared a No Decision, and both men will hopefully move on to a more fitting style of opponent for crown pleasing bouts.

With the ND, Robert Guerrero is now 23-1-1 with 2 No Decisions and 16 KOs while Daud Cino Yordan is 23-0 with 17 KOs and 1 No Decision.

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HBO BAD Predictions: Kirkland vs Julio, Ortiz vs Arnaoutis, Guerrero vs Yordan

Like just about every boxing fan out there, The Boxing Bulletin writers can't wait for tomorrow night's HBO Boxing After Dark main event between James Kirkland (pictured right) and Joel Julio. Neither fighter is shy about mixing it up, and both have the ability to end matters early. Don't miss a second of this one, because we're in for guaranteed fireworks.

Here are our predictions for the headline match-up, along with the two attractive under-card bouts on what should be a great night of boxing.

Photos © Ray Kasprowicz

James Kirland 153.5 vs Joel Julio 154 "I'm picking Julio by stoppage. Kirkland is just too wide open, and he'll eventually get caught. The two fighters that Julio's come up short against, Quintana and Dzinziruk presented him with finesse issues he won't have to worry about against Kirkland. I also don't think Kirkland is that big of a puncher, he's just really strong." - Lee Payton "Julio-Kirkland's a wild card in which both men are going to be hurt or down within the first three rounds. While Kirkland has more physical gifts, I favor Julio to pull off the upset for a couple of reasons: 1) He's far more seasoned, being in tough distance fights against a high level of opposition. He does fade in the later rounds, which favors Kirkland in a war of attrition, but I don't expect it to last that long. 2) Kirkland loves running head first into straight right hands. Julio has straightened his right as his career has progressed, and managed to catch the slippery Sergiy Dzinziruk with a number of them. I'm not sure how long Kirkland can catch right hands from Julio without falling for good. So I figure it's going to be Julio early or Kirkland late, and in this type of slug fest, early beats late. Julio by KO in rounds 4-6." - Michael Nelson "I have never been very impressed with Julio. His punches are telegraphed and he doesn't take a great shot. I think he will land and it should be explosive until Kirkland catches and finishes him. My guess is sooner, rather than later." - Mark Lyons "I'm picking Kirkland. I just have a feeling he's the stronger man, with the ability to take more, but I'm hardly confident about that assessment and surprised the odds are slanted so heavily in his favour." - Andrew Fruman

Victor Ortiz 140 vs Mike Arnaoutis 140 "Arnaoutis has some qualities to give Ortiz trouble. But he has never been active enough to close the show. I think this is the closest fight of the night. Ortiz takes an 8-4 type decision in a very valuable learning experience." - Mark Lyons "Victor Ortiz and Mike Arnaoutis are both physically talented, but Ortiz has more of a fighter's mentality. I think that mentality will carry him to a fairly close decision in a good fight. I expect him to get stunned at least once." - Michael Nelson "Ortiz has been blowing guys out, but none of them are close to being at Mighty Mike's level, and this should be a good barometer of just how good Vicious Victor is. I think Ortiz will pass this test convincingly, but be extended the full distance." - Andrew Fruman

Robert Guerrero 130 vs Daud Yordan 129.5 "From the ten minutes of footage I've seen of Daud Cino Yordan, he looks like he has enough offensive skills to touch up Robert Guerrero some. The kid's also aggressive, so it should be an entertaining fight. His defense falls a bit short for me to be confident that he'll last 10 rounds. If he's tough enough to overcome his defensive liabilities, Guerrero might be in for a rough night. I'll say Robert by late round KO or competitive decision in a fight where Yordan gains a lot of fans." - Michael Nelson

Check out Michael Nelson's full preview of tomorrow night's show. Read more!

HBO BAD Preview: James Kirkland vs Joel Julio, plus Ortiz-Arnaoutis & Guerrero-Yordan

Michael Nelson breaks down this Saturday's HBO BAD triple-header.

HBO is on a roll.

Coming off the unforgettable nine round war between Juan Manuel Marquez and Juan Diaz, and the gutsy efforts of Chris John and Rocky Juarez in the preceding bout, HBO is treating boxing fans to a meaty triple-header on Boxing After Dark this Saturday Night when Robert Guerrero (23-1) takes on Indonesia’s Daud Cino Yordan (23-0), upstart Victor Ortiz (23-1) steps up against Mike Arnaoutis (21-2), and KO artist James Kirkland (pictured right, 24-0) looks to slug it out with Joel Julio (34-2).

Photos © Ray Kasprowicz

Robert Guerrero wants to properly introduce himself to the Jr. Lightweight division after spending the first seven years of his career at Featherweight. He dipped his toe in the water in January when he knocked out the over-matched Edel Ruiz within one round using his patented left hand to the solar plexus. Now, fighting more serious opposition, he’ll have to jump in the pool.

How deep the waters will be is a bit unknown, as footage of 21 year old Daud Cino Yordan is scarce. Recently signed to Golden Boy, Yordan is described by Indonesian press as an aggressive fighter with rocks in his gloves. Expect the young man to come fully prepared; he has been in camp for two months and he has already been in the US for a week to get acclimated to the unfamiliar environment.

Guerrero, for his part, has been chipping away at the perception that he’s an inconsistent fighter. Since his porous performance against Orlando Salido in late 2006, he has been utilizing his boxing skills more by keeping his opponents on the end of his punches. As a result, he’s on an impressive four fight knockout streak.

If Yordan is as hungry as he says he is, the opener should be a heated one.

Vivian Harris was originally penciled in to face Victor Ortiz (pictured left making short work of Jeffrey Resto) in the second bout of the evening. Vivian, now on the downturn of his career, wouldn’t have brought much to the card except the fading perception that he’s a dangerous puncher. Negotiations fell through and the more steady and talented southpaw Mike Arnaoutis stepped up in his place.

Arnaoutis’ physical talents should give Ortiz the stiffest test of his young career. He has some of the faster hands in the 140 pound division to go along with solid technique and a more than respectable punch. If Ortiz gets too eager, he can quickly find himself on his backside.

What Arnaoutis appears to lack is a mean streak. When he decked Ricardo Torres in a fight he lost controversially, instead of immediately ripping into him to finish the job, he touched his glove. Apparently, he wanted to congratulate him on getting up.

Then, against Kendall Holt, he froze, intimidated by the prospect of facing a man with more hand speed and an equal amount of power. Frustrated Mighty Mike fans watched as their man let round after round slip away attempting to outbox a superior boxer with an iffy set of whiskers. Instead of making a concerted effort in tapping Holt’s chin, he dropped a lopsided decision.

In stark contrast, 22 year old Victor Ortiz has never been mistaken as a tea-and-crumpets type of guy once the bell rings. He has knocked out his last seven opponents, often in brutal fashion. The durable Emmanuel Clottey was the only man to escape the 5th round in a fight where young Ortiz showed maturity and poise in breaking down his more experienced foe en route to a 10th round stoppage.

The questions that immediately stand out are whether or not Ortiz can hurt or knock out Arnaoutis, in addition to whether or not he can take Mike’s punch without wavering.

If he does waver, let’s hope that Arnaoutis doesn’t give him dap for not keeling over.

The main event of the night has had hardcore boxing fans buzzing since it was announced. Joel Julio is an aggressive heavy handed fighter with a leaky defense. James Kirkland (pictured below-right against Brian Vera) is an aggressive heavy handed fighter with a leaky defense. This fight will be very violent, and possibly very short.

Most would agree that Kirkland has the more dynamic offensive arsenal to go along with his advantage of being a southpaw. Mixing in a devastating right hook, as well as a strong short left hand and a nasty uppercut, he swarms his opponents and overwhelms them, knocking out 15 of the last 16.

What makes this fight so intriguing is that he’s also reckless and easy to hit flush. He has gotten away with it against fighters with less durability, experience, and power than Julio. But his propensity to run into straight right hands may teach him a hard lesson against a man who throws them with the velocity of the Columbian banger.

Joel Julio has vulnerabilities that Kirkland can expose as well. He has lost decisively to the two skilled southpaws he has faced in Carlos Quintana and Sergiy Dzinziruk. A key reason for his issues with lefties is that his footwork is lacking; he constantly finds himself off balance and open for a counter right hook. Against a right hook as strong as Kirkland’s, falling out of position is an error that can leave him face first on the canvas.

The critical difference between those two southpaws and James Kirkland is that Kirkland is nowhere near as slippery and hard to find. Make no mistake, blows with knockout intentions are going to be landed in every round, and the results are likely to be quick and conclusive.

Keep your bathroom breaks short.

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