By Phil Santos – Overhandright.com – These are the type of match ups that have fight fans marking their calendars. It’s not every week that your treated to two brutally big punchers, with exciting styles, meeting for a second time to settle a score. Their first meeting had all the drama, conspiracy and heavy hitting that you can squeeze into a middleweight fight. The result was a decision win for Arthur Abraham..
The drama came in round 4 when Miranda crashed home an uppercut that broke Abraham’s jaw. Despite the doctor saying he couldn’t continue and the referee declaring that Abraham could not fight on…..he did.
The conspiracy or home town decision angle is what many observers believed played into Abraham’s victory. Miranda was penalized 5 points for head butts and low blows, which appeared excessive to this observer. The penalties along with some questionable scoring left the door open for speculation despite having been terrific, competitive fight.
Finally the rematch would settle all of our unanswered questions. If you route for Edison Miranda then he was robbed in Germany and this fight would go a long way in erasing that bitter defeat. If you back Arthur Abraham then Miranda is a pug who deserved every point deduction and couldn’t finish Abraham off with a broken jaw.
In tonight’s main event, 6-21-08, on Showtime Arthur Abraham made his American debut a memorable one. King Arthur dropped Miranda three times in the 4th round before the fight was called to a halt.
Both fighters exchanged hard shots throughout the first three rounds. Miranda steadily moved in on Abraham stalking and initiating the action. Abraham was content to cover up and pick his spots to land effective counters.
The punch that changed the fight came early in round 4 when Abraham scored a counter left hook that sent crashing to the canvas. Miranda beat the count but with over two minutes remaining couldn’t withstand Abraham’s assault. Abraham continued banging counter lefts flooring Miranda twice more before it was finally stopped.
Abraham did in 4 rounds what took Middleweight champ Kelly Pavlik 7 and he now owns two victories over a tough fighter in Edison Miranda. A meeting between Pavlik and Abraham now seem inevitable. They are the best two Middleweights in the world, regardless of what Felix Sturm thinks, they are both undefeated and a fight between the two would be a unification bout and determine the true Middleweight boss.
For Edison Miranda the future now holds many questions. Can he become a viable title contender at 168? Is his once rock solid chin now becoming a question mark? Can Miranda continue to land fights on HBO and Showtime or has this devastating loss lead him back to headlining ESPN cards?
One question that was answered emphatically was the Showtime poll question that asked:
Should Miranda and Abraham fight again if Miranda wins the fight? The results 70% said yes leaving 30%, which must have been drunk, opting to vote no. Actually if you think about it that question never needed asking.