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Abraham Wipes Out Miranda
MON June 23, ANDRES ANTONIO 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.
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