By Michael "Scoops" Doss

Top junior middleweight contender James Kirkland (30-1, 27KOs) is ready to put on another show when he steps in the ring with Carlos Molina (19-4-2, 6KOs) on January 28th at the Reliant Arena in Houston, Texas. The HBO televised card is headlined by Erik Morales defending his WBC junior welterweight title against unbeaten Danny Garcia. Kirkland has studied Molina's style, and some of his recent fights with Erislandy Lara and Kermit Cintron, and he doesn't expect him to go the distance.

"When it comes down to Carlos Molina, I know what kind of person he is and what kind of punches he throws. To me, he is just another type of fighter. When I get in the ring with him, I know him to lure him in and I know how to make him pay and how to make him miss. I was hoping that they were going to get this fight for me because there was a lot of talk and a lot of rumors [that I didn't want to fight him], so I said let me go clear this up," Kirkland said.

"I really doubt [he will last the distance]. In twelve rounds of boxing, he can run with fire behind him but he won't be able to stand. It's just the hard training and dedication that I'm going to put into this fight. I don't care about the people that he's been upsetting. Some people have bad days. In this fight there won't be any bad days."