Really good, talented fighter, who was erratic as hell. Known for smoking spliffs the day before fights, but still talented enough to win anyway, best known to US fight fans for beating Duran back in the 80s. Just found the Bunce mini-documentary which I'd been looking for for a while, posted it below. Sadly the last I'd heard about him was he fell out of a window and was badly injured, and I haven't heard anything since. Any UK fans know or read anything what happened since that? Would be interested to know, pretty sad story, could say he was the Gazza of boxing to an extent. <object width="560" height="340"><param name="movie" value="http://www.youtube.com/v/oY_1iNtpb1E&hl=en&fs=1&"></param><param name="allowFullScreen" value="true"></param><param name="allowscriptaccess" value="always"></param><embed src="http://www.youtube.com/v/oY_1iNtpb1E&hl=en&fs=1&" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" allowscriptaccess="always" allowfullscreen="true" width="560" height="340"></embed></object>
fuck sake, is London full of Glaswegian tramps or what? ::I was only there for 3 days and I met about 5 and there's another one on that video. cool vid, btw, cheers for posting. pretty depressing, mind. made me think of Herol Graham when that lad on the street said 'mibbes the most talented british fighter never to win a title'. That woulda been a fascinating fight/mythical match up, wouldn't it?
You would be surprised man :: Lots of Glaswegians in Shepherds Bush for sure, that's why we play Celtic pretty much every pre-season, and fuck me, they take the ground over :: I was thinking that as well, thing is at least Graham got the world title fights, Laing went missing for a year after the Duran fight when he was at his most marketable. He had the talent to win one, that's for sure. They were both originals you could say as well, with their styles and such. Laing had incredible footwork, wonderful fast hands as well. I would venture he was more skilled than Graham imo but it would have been a good fight.
when people talk about the most talented ever they always have guys like rjj, floyd, benitez, whitaker. those guys dedicated their lives to the game. the MOST talented are almost never heard of. kirkland laing being one of the few that ever accomplished anything IMO.
I foolowed Lang throughout his career, and I thought he was a guy that was in the right place and the right time vs. a Duran who had not trained a lick. I never thought of Lang skilled, but more of just a good tough guy, he did most everything wrong technically, watch his tapes. A cat I thought would win the title named Fred Hutchings cleaned his plow big time, before he himself was wiped out by Hearns in a fight for the jr. middleweight title on CBS.
That seems to be the consensous opinion overseas about the Duran fight, which may or may not be true but no one can deny that Laing grabbed the opportunity when it came about, he won that fight clearly. If Duran wasn't in shape you can hardly blame Laing for that, he done what he had to do. I think he definitely had skills, fast hands and good footwork, and was boxing the hell out of Colin Jones for the British title, winning every round before getting caught with a punch out of the blue in the 9th (twice, as it happens, in the same round in both fights, with Laing a mile ahead on points in both). He might have technically done everything wrong but so do alot of fighters, and they use it to their advantage. There's no denying he's a talent wasted, funny how someone can beat the likes of Duran but lose to Buck Smith. Erratic as fuck, by the way would have liked to have seen him against Honeyghan.
