By Cliff Rold
Hardcore fight fans have known about 28-year old German-based Armenian Middleweight Arthur Abraham (27-0, 22 KO) for a few years. Now the rest of the world knows too. Youngstown, Ohio’s World Middleweight champion Kelly Pavlik, who has spoken openly of a potential clash, saw his existing knowledge become a sweetened economic pot on Saturday night at the Seminole Hard Rock Hotel and Casino in Hollywood, Florida as Abraham sensationally knocked out wild 27-year old Colombian slugger Edison Miranda (30-3, 26 KO) in four rounds.
The bout was a highly anticipated rematch of their 2006 brawl for Abraham’s IBF title at 160 lbs.; that title was not on the line as Miranda’s growth since chapter one dictated a catch weight of 166. Both men made the weight on Friday with Abraham in right at the contracted limit and Miranda just beneath at 165.
Abraham immediately went about the business of backing Miranda up with hard right jabs before backing off himself behind a high, tight guard. A Miranda right echoed off the gloves of Abraham as the Colombian came out more measured than he had the first time around. Abraham set in to work the body but a stray shot brought a low blow warning from the official. A glancing right from Miranda just missed full contact as Abraham rolled along the ropes but was unable to follow up before the bell.
Miranda made the fight throughout the second as Abraham did little in the way of punching. Thudding body shots ricocheted off the sculpted Armenian but Miranda could get little past the gloves upstairs. A wicked low blow landed from Miranda in the final thirty seconds that brought a brief halt to the action; Abraham calmly caught his breath before returning to his defensive posture.
Abraham waved Miranda forward after another barrage of shots bounced off his gloves before landing two body shots and, shortly after, a hard right hand for his best work of the bout. Miranda drew a warning for holding and hitting before another right hand from Abraham buckled his knees. Abraham stepped back rather than following up, choosing to maintain a methodical game plan.
The game plan was sound. In the first minute of the fourth, a perfectly timed right hand-left hook sent Miranda rocketing to the floor. Miranda rose, clearly hurt, and this time Abraham would not fail to press the advantage. Another left hook would drop Miranda along the ropes and the Colombian would again rise but his legs were clearly gone and the end was at hand. Chasing his wounded prey, Abraham would land a final striking right for the rounds third knockdown as the referee leapt in to halt the action before Miranda could attempt to rise again at 1:13 of the fourth.
The decisive victory lays to rest any lingering questions about who the better man was in their controversial first clash. Now Boxing can turn to the question of who the best Middleweight in the world is. Speaking in broken but still effective English, Abraham made his wish list clear after his emphatic victory. “I wish one fight with Oscar De La Hoya and Kelly Pavlik. I like America. American people are nice people. I come back.” De La Hoya is highly unlikely, but the second name from Abraham’s mouth was the one that should have fight fans salivating.
For Boxing’s sake, the sooner Abraham can return to the nice American people and get into a ring with Pavlik (34-0, 30 KO), the better. What was before Saturday night already the clear choice for best fight in the division has now become a global must-see.
Pleasantly surprising, the best fight of the night would come before Abraham and Miranda stepped into the ring. Securing his best, and most significant, victory in years, 36-year old former IBF Jr. Middleweight titlist Raul Marquez (42-3-1, 29 KO) of Houston, Texas laid a steady beating on 27-year old Dominican Giovanni Lorenzo (26-1, 18 KO), erasing the younger man’s undefeated mark and securing his own eventual shot at Abraham by way of IBF eliminator. The win punctuates a remarkable career comeback for Marquez who, after taking almost two years off from 2004-06 following a stoppage loss to future World Middleweight champ Jermain Taylor, has gone on a run of 6-0-1 with five knockouts.
Both men weighed in at the division limit of 160 lbs.
The veteran Marquez struck first in the opening round, landing two hard body shots as Lorenzo calmly circled. A lazy right from Lorenzo just missed and Marquez landed a single left hook downstairs. Lorenzo landed a long right and off the ropes and then another at mid-ring in the final minute. Working out of a corner as the seconds ticked down, Lorenzo attempted to roll and counter against Marquez’s aggression with mixed success.
Marquez continued to press behind his right jab as the second round kicked off. Another left downstairs brought a right from Lorenzo in response and Marquez found himself backed up. Lorenzo continued to work the right, using the left jab and a lead left hook to create openings. A right hand from Lorenzo in the corner was equaled by a left hook to the head from Marquez as they headed for the bell.
A marked increase in intensity could be seen at the start of the third and carried through to the fourth as Marquez’s efforts to get inside on Lorenzo were stepped up. In each round, Marquez started off with lead power shots. In round four, it led to a full, sustained opening minute of landing hooks and straight rights. The game old man was also wise, never ignoring the body. As the final thirty seconds wound down, Marquez was defending against Lorenzo’s right hand counters, landing a particularly nasty right hook to the body followed by a left hook to the temple of the younger man.
Having seized control of the bout in the previous round, Marquez again attempted to bum rush his man at the bell and was clipped with a right hand from Lorenzo that came close to being an official knockdown as Marquez’s gloves came perilously close to the floor. They traded rights as the moved around the ring, Lorenzo going backwards but planting to deliver and Marquez never giving him time to settle. A right to the body from Marquez led to a furious power punch exchange near the ropes around the thirty second mark but little action followed from there.
With his left eye showing redness at the end of the fifth, Lorenzo was forced to eat a steady diet of Marquez rights in the sixth that brought the red to swelling. Defying the calendar, Marquez refused to relent, pressuring and landing echoing power blasts. The pace slowed in the seventh as Lorenzo cautiously moved and held to try and slow Marquez down, a tactic that woke the boo birds in the crowd.
Two left hands to the top of Lorenzo’s head in the middle of round eight appeared to have the Dominican stunned but he shook it off and landed his own slashing right inside the final minute. Marquez reached to hold, clearing his head and then landing yet another left on Lorenzo in the waning seconds of the round to halt any surge of confidence that.
Grappling marked the beginning of round nine but Marquez was soon back on full offense with a left hook that drove Lorenzo into the corner. A hard Marquez jab was met with a Lorenzo right uppercut, then lead right hand, before Marquez landed his own left. Lorenzo holding on tight in the final thirty seconds, Marquez clipped him with two rights to the jaw in the clinch and then a left hook that sent Lorenzo stumbling back yet again.
Looking well behind in the fight, Lorenzo’s corner chided him to look for the knockout in the rest period before round ten. Lorenzo came out with the right hand right away in search of that end. A clinch ended with a Lorenzo right and a nasty cut over the right eye of Marquez. It wasn’t clear if the blow or a clash of heads caused the cut; moments later, a clash of heads would be quite evident as Lorenzo intentionally head butted Marquez as he was backed into the ropes. Immediately deducted a point on the cards by a visibly angry referee, Lorenzo was waved in to continue and Marquez charged across looking to put Lorenzo’s head into the seats with wide loaded hooks. A violent exchange would carry past the final bell as each man took cheap shots on the other before their corners could separate them.
Marquez and Lorenzo picked up where they left off at the bell to start round eleven, fighting on even terms early before Marquez’s cleaner, straighter shots robbed Lorenzo of his initial fire. Hurting from a fights worth of body and head punishment, the younger man was holding on for survival heading towards the final rest period.
The closing frame saw Lorenzo attempt some counter rights but Marquez’s stalking, varied offense dissuaded Lorenzo from going for the knockout, instead legging out stretches of the round and leaving it to the judges. The underdog appeared a clear winner as the final bell of an exciting bout sounded, raising his arms into the air as the crowd stood to applaud his effort.
Closer in the official tallies than it should have been, the obvious was made reality as the judge’s scores were announced at 114-113 across the board.
After giving the requisite post-fight shot out to God, Marquez summed up his stellar effort, stating, “I trained hard. Older. Wiser. Just a lot of dedication.” With a shot at now in the offing, Marquez reflected on his effort and the future. “I’m a warrior. I come to fight…I’m ready for bigger and better things.” He’ll confront just that in Abraham. Marquez was a member of the 1992 U.S. Olympic team that also featured future champions and titlists Vernon Forrest, Tim Austin and Oscar De La Hoya.
The card was televised live in the United States by Showtime and promoted by Main Events and Warriors Boxing.
Cliff Rold is a member of the Ring Magazine Ratings Advisory Panel and the Boxing Writers Association of America. He can be reached at roldboxing@hotmail.com