ABRAHAM WIPES OUT MIRANDA
TalkingBoxing.com
June 24 2008
MON June 23, ANTONIO ANDRES CARRIEDO – The third weekend of June was
a big one for Showtime and the 160/68 lb. weight range. Despite facts
that prove otherwise, many within the boxing community claim that
the weight range is relatively barren of formidable opposition for
Undisputed 160 lb. champion Kelly Pavlik. Pavlik recently dismissed
the immediate possibility of facing the likes of, among others, German
based Armenian born IBF 160 lb. titlist Arthur Abraham in part because
of his anonymity here in the US. On June 7th, at the time of Pavlik’s
comments, that may have been true. It’s no longer true.
Showtime rebroadcast Abraham’s wildly entertaining, highly competitive
and controversial September 2006 unanimous decision victory over
Columbian slugger Edison Miranda three times last week in the buildup
to their live broadcast of the Abraham-Miranda rematch Saturday night
at the Hard Rock LIVE Arena in Hollywood, FL. The rematch did not come
close to matching the intensity and competitiveness of the first fight
where Miranda fought with swollen eyes and numerous point deductions
while Abraham competed with a broken jaw, grotesque swelling and blood
streaming out of his mouth. The impressiveness of Abraham’s victory
in the rematch was reminiscent of Pavlik’s dismantling of Miranda in
May 2007.
Miranda took command of the fight’s pace from the opening bell. He
pressured the defensive-minded Abraham behind crisp one-twos. Abraham’s
high guard led Miranda to also focus on the body. In round two,
one of Miranda’s body shots, an uppercut, landed very low forcing
a pause in the action which prompted booing from the pro-Miranda
crowd. Many observers speculated that Abraham feigned low blows which
drew penalties that helped him pull out the unanimous decision victory
in the first fight.
Abraham came back strong after the low blow, landing some hard counter
right hands to probably bank the round. Miranda reassumed control of
the action in round three. He pushed Abraham back onto the ropes with
one-twos and worked the head and body when he got Abraham trapped. Even
in the middle of the ring, Miranda’s activity level appeared to be
giving Abraham trouble until Abraham caught his foe with a left hook
that buckled Miranda’s knees near the end of the round.
Instead of playing it safe and getting his legs back under him to
start the fourth, Miranda continued to press forward. Abraham caught
him with a right hand-left hook combo and followed it up with a right
cross to clean up and Miranda went down to the canvass. Miranda beat
the count but his legs were still wobbly. Abraham went right after
him and landed a crushing left hook at arms length that dropped the
back-peddling Miranda hard. Again Miranda beat the count and again
Abraham pressed forward to drop him with a left hook. At that point,
referee Telis Assimenios had seen enough and waved off the action as
soon as Miranda hit the canvass and ropes. The official time of the
TKO was 1:13 of round four.
The fight was not a 160 lb. title defense, but it’d be hard to imagine
that fight fans would view Abraham as a formidable champion and threat
had he lost the 166 lb. fight, which brings us back to Pavlik. Only a
handful of American fight fans followed Pavlik’s career rise through
his fights against the likes of Dorian Beaupierre, Fulgencio Zuniga,
Bronco McKart and Jose Luis Zertuche. However, when he took Edison
Miranda out in seven one-sided rounds fans began clamoring for then
champion, Jermain Taylor to fight the upstart Pavlik. Similarly,
few fight fans here in the US followed Abraham’s career when he was
running through a formidable schedule of Howard Eastman, Kingsley
Ikeke, Kofi Jantuah and his first fight with Miranda. Now that many
fans have seen Abraham gut out a UD against Miranda and streamroll
the highly regarded slugger in four rounds in the rematch, fans know
Abraham is a legitimate challenger to Pavlik’s 160 lb. throne.
Former 154 lb. titlist and 1992 US Olympian Raul Marquez, eked out
a 114-113 (3x) unanimous decision victory over previously undefeated
contender Giovanni Lorenzo to earn a mandatory challenge for Abraham’s
IBF 160 lb. title in a slugfest on the undercard of Abraham-Miranda
II. The mandatory will be enforced. It’s an underwhelming fight for
fans craving bigger fights for Abraham. However, now that Abraham
has been shown to the boxing public here in the US, Pavlik and his
matchmakers can no longer claim that nobody has heard of him. Abraham
is on everyone’s radar. It’s not June 7th anymore.
Ward Preaches Patience, Practices Wild Punishment
In the buildup to his ShoBox headlining bout from the Royal Walter
Cruise Terminal in George Town in the Cayman Islands on Friday night,
2004 178 lb. Olympic Gold Medalist, Andre Ward said all the right
things. He maintained that he’s happy with the progression of his
career in the nearly four years since bringing home the gold from
Athens. Ward contends that his career needs the slow progressive climb
in order for him to realize his full potential. When Ward stepped
through the ropes against Jerson Ravelo, though, he shot out of the
gate like a whirlwind.
Ravelo took advantage of Ward’s uncharacteristically aggressive
lunges by twice countering Ward’s lead left hooks with straight
right hands. Ravelo also landed a few body shots and avoided most
of Ward’s offensive outbursts to win the first round. In the second
round, Ward utilized his jab and began to improve the pace of his
offense. Through the third and fourth rounds Ward continued to fight
a disciplined and patient fight. He exploited his superior footwork
and hand speed while working behind his jab and occasionally landing
swift lead left hooks. By the end of the fourth, Ravelo was falling
for every feint from Ward.
With Ravelo reticent to open up offensively, Ward began to stalk his
foe from both an orthodox and southpaw stance in the fifth round. In
the sixth, an increasingly physical Ward began to land his orthodox
straight right hand at will. In the seventh and eighth Ward continued
to land the left jab and right cross, but frequently charged forward
wildly at the increasingly defensive-minded Ravelo. After shoving
Ravelo to the ground and receiving a warning from referee Steve
Smoger two minute into the eighth, Ward feinted a jab putting Ravelo
on the defensive.
Ward followed his effective feint with a short quick left hook that
caused Ravelo to duck and drop his jaw away from his left shoulder. In
the same continuous motion Ward turned both his hips and shoulders into
a right cross that dropped Ravelo to his knees then face. Ravelo,
amazingly, beat the count and answered referee Smoger’s eighth
count. Ward followed up with vicious two-fisted assault that prompted
Ravelo’s corner to throw in the towel at 2:37 of the eighth round.
Again, Ward proved that he is in a superior class. He got a little
sloppy offensively, but it reminded me of an early 30s Bernard Hopkins,
elbows, shoves, feints, sneaky right hands and all. With the victory
Ward claimed the NABO 168 lb. title. He also moves himself firmly
within the top 15 of the very deep 168 lb. division. Ward may be
patient, but performances like the one he delivered last Friday lead
some to wonder; how much longer before he’s fighting contenders or
even titlists?
On the televised undercard, Ronald Hearns showed grit and improved
skills in stopping the game but outgunned Jose Luis Gonzalez. The
bout was highlighted by the fourth round. Both combatants traded power
shots until the bell and even gave each other a nod as if to say they
were enjoying it when the round ended. From that point on, though,
Hearns took complete control of the fight and punished Gonzalez
until referee Roberto Ramirez Jr. waved off the action at 2:01 of
the seventh round. On the untelevised undercard, Eddie Chambers and
Ty Barnett scored career boosting KO wins.