By Paul Strauss – Roman’s nickname is made in hell, but tonight it could have been made my hell, because he let Miranda get to him on at least two occasions, and almost put him away. Only his experience and Miranda’s inexperience as a finisher kept him from defeat.
This was a big night for ESPN as well, as they were celebrating thirty years in boxing, and twelve years of FNF. Back in the studio Brian Kenny and Dan Rafael provided up to date information on the apparent dead matchup between Manny Pacquiao and Floyd Mayweather, Jr. Kenny replayed a recent interview he conducted with Freddie Roach, and Freddie admitted the fight wasn’t completely dead but close to being so. It appears a fight between Manny and Joshua Clottey is close to being signed.
Both Brian and Dan expressed the feeling that Manny’s options are much better than Floyd’s. Floyd end up fighting Paulie Malignaggi, but no one is too excited about that one..
In Freddie’s interview he said there’s no way Floyd would be willing to fight the winner of the Shane Mosley versus Andre Berto fight.
Just prior to Karmazin’s big win, his fellow country man from St. Petersburg, Russia scored a second round kayo. Andrey Fedosov had an easy time with Lionel Butler. Butler weighed in at a whopping 276 3/4 lbs. He tried to adopt George Foreman (Archie Moore before him) cross armed style, but he really gave the impression he might have eaten big George. Put it this way, he was a big stationary target, and Fedosov couldn’t miss. Lionel’s nickname is “The Train”. In this case he was the big train that couldn’t. Fedosov caught him with several good right hands in the second. Andrey put him away for good when referee Lou Moret administered the count at 2:37 of the round at the Civic Auditorium, Glendale, Calif.
In the main event, ring announcer Teddy Atlas kept emphasizing the fact the Miranda had a big right hand, and that it was the punch that might win the fight for him. On at least two occasions that looked like it might be the case. The first time came early in the second round, when Dionisio caught Karmazin backing straight up. Roman didn’t go down, but he did do a little bit of the “chicken dance”. His veteran wiles came into play though, and he was able to tie Miranda up several times over the remainder of the round and clear his head.
Through the course of the fight Miranda repeatedly tried to land the big right hand, and Karmazin tried to counter it with his left hook. Karmazin’s reflexes aren’t what they used to be, and he had trouble making that counter work. He also wasn’t able to read the right hand and try to beat Miranda to the punch. What he was able to do was steal rounds by stepping inside and landing combinations. Freddie Roach was working his corner, and Freddie wanted him to move more, and to double jab to stop the right, as well as stepping inside the looping ones.
Karmazin did a pretty good job until he again got caught in the ninth round. This time he went down and got a standing eight count. Miranda again failed to close the show by letting Karmazin tie him up. When he was loose, Miranda failed to manage distance very well, and a lot of his punches went over Karmazin’s head. Karmazin seemed to quickly clear his head, and by the end of the round he was starting to land some good shots on the inside.
In the tenth round, Karmazin landed a good right hand right on the tip of the chin. There was a little bit of a delayed reaction, because he didn’t actually go down until another right was thrown and missed. He was definitely hurt, and with the roles reversed Karmazin knew how to finish his man. He quickly positioned Miranda for a follow up right, and that was all she wrote. Down went Miranda for good this time. So, the thirty-six year old Karmazin remains a factor in the run for another title, which he can successfully pull it off would be the first time a fighter from Russia held titles in two different weight classes. Karmazin is former junior middleweight title holder.
On one of the breaks back to the studio, Dan Rafael made a good point that Las Vegas has been successfully handling fights for a long time, and no one fighter should think he is so big that he can dictate things. Teddy Atlas mentioned a couple of vague e-mails that supposedly came from the Pacquiao came, and insinuated they raised questions about possible penalties if a fighter tested positive. Atlas added that he trusted his unnamed source. Brian Kenny quickly pointed out that if the e-mails did indeed exist they might mean nothing more than an attempt to find out the perimeters.
Regardless, most think Mayweather stepped over the line with his demands, which actually make no sense, because there is no fool proof testing method. Urinalysis, although not fool proof either, remains sufficient. Some point out that if Floyd is feeling to subject himself to random testing, then why shouldn’t Manny be too? Floyd doesn’t mind giving blood right up to the day of the fight, and Manny does, so Floyd isn’t making any sacrifice. Some mention that Manny has some tattoo’s. The implication is that’s evidence he is not afraid of needles. If Manny is not afraid of needles, then it shouldn’t bother him to give blood close to the fight date, right? The fact is Manny never said he was afraid of needles. What he has said is when he gives blood it adversely affects him for a while, so that understandably is why he doesn’t want to give blood right before the fight. He’s still willing to provide blood on several occasions, including right after the fight.
The point that needs to be repeatedly made is there is no fool proof method of testing for certain performance enhancing drugs (PEDs) or blood doping/packing. That’s true whether the blood is provided thirty days before, ten days before, or the day of the fight. The only way to be positive someone was engaging in certain types of performance enhancing behavior is to have an eye witness to the illegal act.