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Coming To America
Twenty one months between bouts creates a challenge to get currency from the original but with Showtime Television showing the original bout (one that most fans had not seen) just a week before the rematch, the attention paid to this non-title rematch at 166 pounds surpassed the competing HBO telecast featuring rising welterweight star Andre Berto. A large part of this story was the maneuvering by lead promotional companies Sauerland (Abraham) and Warriors Boxing (Miranda), there was heavy back room negotiating to make this match a reality. Abraham went on to defend his IBF strap after the Miranda win and admittedly ran out of worthy opponents, the fight made sense to him because his plan was to debut on American soil and dispatch Miranda once and for all. We give the German champion a lot of credit for coming across the Atlantic to fight a motivated and dangerous fighter on his home turf. He could have easily waited in Germany for the winner of the co-feature, Giovanni Lorenzo vs. Raul Marquez. Miranda also won four times since the initial match but lost via TKO to the #1 ranked middleweight in the world, Kelly Pavlik. The Abraham rematch was step one in the Miranda plan to avenge his two losses. Although he doesn’t speak English, there was no mistaking Miranda’s disdain for Abraham in the days leading up to the match. Never at a loss for words even in Spanish, Miranda bragged about how he planned to break the other side of Abraham’s jaw, and proclaiming that “the only stupid king I know is King Arthur. Are you ready King? I am ready.” By the time the bell rang for the opening round 10PM Saturday night, everyone inside at the Hard Rock Live at the Seminole Hard Rock was amped. If you were a fan of Abraham, you didn’t need long to get your payoff. After strategically surrendering the first two rounds in order (he rarely threw a punch but defended most of Miranda’s volleys) to get a feel for his opponent, the German champ turned up the volume in round three, scoring with numerous body shots and starting effective counter punching that would shortly do in his Colombian opponent. An early exchange in round four found Miranda on the canvas courtesy of a beautiful short right hand. The knockdown seemed initially like a flash one but within 30 seconds it showed its long lasting effect. Sensing that Miranda was hurt and knowing he was a poor defensive fighter, Abraham pursued and caught him with a looping left hook that essentially ended the fight. Miranda rose gamily but shakily at the count of eight but as good champions do, the champ went in for the kill and floored him again with a hook. The referee waved off the bout for lack of a three knockdown rule at 1:12 and Abraham could turn his attention to bigger fights and paydays in the States by virtue of this electrifying KO. DEFINING THE WORD ‘VETERAN’ Raul Marquez climbed into the ring Saturday night against an undefeated opponent who was nine years younger. Giovanni Lorenzo was to be showcased this night in the hopes of giving the unknown some street cred as the mandatory opponent for an IBF defense by Abraham. With a loss, Marquez hinted that the bout could be the last hurrah for the gracious Mexican former champ. He promised that wasn’t going out easy if it were to be the last time he laces up the gloves. Raul contested his younger opponent in every round and though his face was swollen and cut, this fight was not a referendum for the young Dominican that his promoters had hoped for. Lorenzo’s defense was suspect as he took far too many punches from the former light middleweight champion; he was unable to back up Marquez all night despite having a slight one inch reach advantage. Marquez thought he had the bout in hand after round nine despite an increasingly bad cut over the right eye, even gesturing to the fans after a solid three minutes. As the fight went into the championship rounds, we loved the veteran’s ability to keep pressing the issue and his willingness to bring the fight to his younger challenger. We had the fight scored 114-113 in favor of Marquez; an exact match to how all three judges scored it. Lorenzo wound up with a costly defeat because of a foolish ninth round head butt that became the deciding factor in the match. It was a gritty performance by a veteran boxer and one that will stay with Marquez for the rest of his life. WHAT’S NEXT Though Marquez left his blood and guts on the canvas to earn the mandatory challenger status for Abraham, we can’t see him lasting more than four rounds against the German. We learned tonight that this champion is an accomplished one; with a defensive style makes him very difficult to hit. “Arthur positions himself defensively in a way where it’s difficult to land either head or body shots,” Showtime’s Al Bernstein conveyed to me after the fight. He proved in the first Miranda fight that he could take a punch; he never went down despite having a shattered jaw for eight rounds. This evening he proved he could pack a punch and can end a fight. Earlier in the week, one of his handlers threw a barb at another famous champion by saying, “Arthur doesn’t fight like (Wladimir) Klitschko, he’s not going to jab all night.” True story. With this performance, a huge fight is starting to percolate, “I spoke with Cameron Mann (Kelly Pavlik’s manager) this week and he’d love to get Kelly Pavlik in the ring with Abraham. They want to do the fight at Cleveland Browns stadium, Showtime’s Bernstein related. There is an opportunity for a WBC/IBF middleweight unification and regardless of any titles at stake, we figure that they can draw 30-40,000 to that match, certainly producing enough green for the German King to attempt another American conquest. |
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