21.09.06 – By Jacqui Snow: Power punching Colombian Edison “Pantera” Miranda (26-0, 23 KO) will have his first opportunity to win a major title when he squares off against rocket-hot German middleweight prospect Arthur Abraham (21-0, 17 KO’s) for Abraham’s IBF Middleweight belt on September 23rd. Although Abraham’s been fighting professionally for only three years, he already has 21 victories to his name, including 17 knockouts. It’s a potentially explosive match up which probably won’t go the distance. Unfortunately for fans in the United States who’ve never seen Abraham in action, the Abraham/Miranda bout takes place in Germany and will once again not be televised.
The story of Edison Miranda’s childhood reads like a Hollywood movie script. He was born in Colombia to a young girl who immediately abandoned him. He was passed around between various family members, none of whom provided him with a permanent home. At the age of nine, Miranda, who was by then living on the streets, embarked on a brutal journey across the country to attempt a reunion with his mother, only to discover that she wanted nothing to do with him.
Like so many others, Miranda found solace in the sweet science. He began his amateur career at the age of 16, winning 128 out of 132 fights and narrowly missing a berth on the 2000 Colombian Olympic team.
Edison turned pro at the age of 20 and proceeded to knock out 21 in a row, 16 of those in the first round. Miranda has successfully gone the distance on just three occasions. The first fighter to take Miranda ten rounds was southpaw Sam Reese (21-15-4, 8 KO’s), whom he fought in May 2005 on ESPN and beat by a wide margin, despite a point deduction. Less than a month later, he took on fellow prospect Jose Valera (15-2, 11 KO’s) for the vacant WBO Latino, NABA and IBF Latino Middleweight Titles. Miranda scored an easy victory over the gutsy Valera, with two of the judges scoring the bout 120-107 in his favor. Three months later, Miranda scored an equally lopsided victory over the hapless Hilario Guzman (6-18-4, 1 KO) and then successfully defended his WBO and NABA titles with a third round knockout of Sherwin Davis (18-3, 12 KO’s).
Miranda took a significant step up in his most recent bout in March when he put his impressive record on the line against British journeyman Howard Eastman (40-4, 34 KO’s), again on ESPN. Eastman had never been knocked out in any of his 43 prior bouts, but Miranda thrilled fans with a seventh round TKO.
Arthur Abraham won his first title, the vacant WBA International Middleweight belt, in September 2004, with a 12th round TKO victory over Australian Nader Hamdan (39-4, 18 KO’s), who’d lost only once to fellow Aussie Sam Soliman. Just two months later, Abraham scored a sixth round TKO victory over Roberto Mario Vecchio (12-4-2, 4 KO’s). He knocked down his next opponent, Canadian Ian Gardner (19-3, 7 KO’s), three times en route to a 12th round unanimous decision win in February 2005 for the vacant WBA Inter-Continental Middleweight belt. He successfully defended that belt in July 2005 with a 12 round decision win over Howard Eastman.
Abraham had the opportunity to fight for the IBF belt in November 2005 after Jermain Taylor vacated the title in order to take on Bernard Hopkins. Abraham’s opponent was Nigerian Kingsley Ikeke (23-2, 13 KO’s), whom he beat in convincing fashion by scoring a 5th round knockout.
Arthur Abraham never fought outside of his home country, so there’s some concern that Abraham, as the hometown hero, would have an unfair advantage on the judges’ scorecards should the fight go the distance. However, given the explosive knockout power of both fighters, it’s pretty unlikely that it will come to that.