In a wild brawl at the Centro de Cancun in Cancun, Mexico on Saturday night, James Kirkland TKO'd WBC no.1 contender Alfredo ''El Perro'' Angulo in the sixth round of a WBC super welterweight title eliminator - putting himself in pole-position for a big-money bout against WBC super welterweight champion Saul ''Canelo'' Alvarez in early 2012.

The bout was a see-saw, give-and-take, pier-six-brawl of a fight that saw both men hit the deck in the first round, then continue tee-ing off against each other for five more rounds with little thought of defence. 29 year old Angulo entered the ring a clear favorite, but lost for the second time in 22 fights (17 KOs).

In retrospect, one has to wonder as to the logic behind Oscar De La Hoya and Golden Boy's thinking in risking their fighter Angulo's no.1 WBC ranking against such a dangerous opponent as Kirkland. The American went into the bout ranked only 15th in the world by the WBC. 

Despite the fact that he had suffered an embarrassing first-round stoppage at the hands of feather fisted Nobuhiro Ishida of Japan just seven months earlier, Kirkland has a fearsome reputation as a slugger par-excellence, and went into Saturday's fight with a record of 26 KOs in 29 wins against one loss, with 22 of those wins coming within the first three rounds.

Kirkland is no Willie Pep however and his approach to defense seems to be to throw more punches than the other guy. Whether Kirkland is an aficionado of the great British WWII Field Marshal Bernard Montgomery who famously said ''the best form of defense is attack'' is unknown, but the fact is the Texan puncher has been caught often and was dropped by the little-known Allen Conyers in the first round before ending the about seconds later.

Nevertheless, the alarm bells must have been ringing when Angulo floored Kirkland within minutes of the opening bell. What happened next had a marked effect on the entire about: after the American got back on his feet, the Mexican went all out to try and finish off Kirkland, throwing literally hundreds of punches, most of which were blocked, and expended an enormous amount of energy in the process. 

In the final 30 seconds of the round, Kirkland sensed his opponent had punched himself out and went on the offense himself, flooring Angulo for the first time in his career with a volley of punches.

Despite his trainer Nacho Berenstein's best efforts, when the bell signaled the start of the second round it was clear that the Mexican had barely recovered, and he looked there for the taking, but try as he might, Kirkland could not find the blow to put him down.

Angulo tried desperately to rally in the third round, and had some success, but Kirkland seems to get more durable as a fight progresses, and the Mexican's punches never troubled him again.

Rounds four and five were pure attrition, but Angulo's swollen mess of a face showed he was coming off worse, and when Kirkland got through with another barrage of heavy shots in the sixth round without reply, referee Johnny Callas decided he had seen enough.

It was a stunning victory for a 27-year-old who has lost the best part of five years of his career due to two stretches of incarceration – one for armed robbery and the other for possession of a firearm. One of the very few top pros who is trained by a woman - former boxer Ann Wolfe - Kirkland is an exciting fighter who looks capable of KO'ing - or being KO'd by - any top super welterweight in the world. He separated briefly from Wolfe after leaving prison a second time, and it was during this hiatus between the two that he suffered his only career defeat.

If he can keep himself fully focused on his ring career, there are exciting fights to be made against the likes of ''Canelo'' Alvarez, plus the winner of the upcoming rematch between Miguel Cotto and Antonio Margarito for the WBA light middleweight title. There is even talk of Kirkland being a possible 2012 opponent for Manny Pacquiao, should the Filipino powerhouse decide once again to terrorize the 154 lb division.

As long as he can keep himself out of jail and keep Ann Wolfe in his corner, there could be some huge paydays and even a world title in the near future for James Kirkland.