By Thomas Gerbasi
The blood was seemingly everywhere, turning Arthur Abraham’s light blue trunks crimson. Every time he moved or was hit, more spewed from his mouth, the product of a jaw broken in two places, the first crack coming in the fourth round. To continue was a decision far and above the call of duty when it comes to sport. This was simply a fight – against Edison Miranda, against pain, against common sense.
“My coach (Ulli Wegner) and me have a motto,” explained Abraham to MaxBoxing through translator Heiko Mallwitz. “‘Dead or alive, but never on the knees.’ I’m a guy who never gives up, and it was a question on honor for me. I never thought about giving up in the fight; it was never a decision for me because I wanted to win, and I will never give up.”
Abraham fought on for eight more rounds at the Rittal Arena in Wetzlar, Germany, spitting and swallowing copious amounts of blood en route to winning a comfortable 12 round unanimous decision over Miranda. And though the post-fight talk centered on some questionable officiating from referee Randy Neumann, who deducted five points from Miranda, there was no questions about the courageous performance of the IBF middleweight champion, who chooses not to look back at his trial by fire, but at the future, which for now means a Saturday rematch with Miranda at the Hard Rock Live in Hollywood, Florida (Showtime 9pm ET / PT).
“I’ve nearly forgotten the first fight with Miranda,” he said. “I fought four times after that and you have to look into the future and show what you can do, so I’ve forgotten the old stories.”
The 28-year old may feel that way now, but there will be no forgetting that fall night in 2006, because to many fans, that was the night that Abraham became real to them. No longer was the Armenian-born but Germany-based fighter just another faceless alphabet titlist from Europe. He had gone deep into the well against a highly-regarded puncher, and still showed the skill and stones to get the job done against the most imposing of odds.
Now people outside of Germany wanted to see what Abraham was about, and though some fighters would never recover from a twice broken jaw and a week in the hospital, if anything, ‘King’ Arthur has become even more aggressive since the Miranda bout, knocking out his last four title challengers after going the distance in his first three title defenses.
“In the Miranda fight I became much harder than before,” he admits. “With that fight I showed myself and I showed the world that I was a tough guy, and it was a good experience for me.”
Abraham’s unbeaten (26-0, 21 KOs) record and growing reputation even saw his name thrown in the mix earlier this year for a possible unification bout against Kelly Pavlik, but that fight never materialized. Instead, Abraham and his promoter, Sauerland Event, opted for a rematch with Miranda, Colombia’s free-swinging trash talker.
