Nobuhiro Ishida: “As you know, Japan had a very big earthquake. It makes me happy and proud to come to the United States and win for my country. He [Kirkland] didn’t expect this from me. He didn’t respect what we had. Kirkland kept coming forward at me and so I kept going with my right, my right, my right and it worked. I had my country on my side and now I’m ready for a world title shot.”

James Kirkland: “I don’t know why they stopped the fight. There is not a three knockdown rule in Vegas. I’m really upset right now. That was a messed up call. I was telling him I wanted to keep fighting. He [Ishida] wasn’t anything. He had no power. This was messed up.”