By Keith Idec
Takashi Miura did his part to ensure a rematch against Francisco Vargas.
Japan’s Miura wore down Mexico’s Miguel Roman, dropped him three times and scored a 12th-round knockout Saturday night at Fantasy Springs Resort Casino in Indio, California. Miura improved to 31-3-2 and scored his 24th knockout in a fight HBO televised as the opener of a “Boxing After Dark” doubleheader.
By winning, Japan’s Miura remained in position to fight for the WBC world super featherweight title he once held against the winner of the Vargas-Miguel Berchelt bout later Saturday night on the same card.
Vargas, down on two of three scorecards, stopped Miura in the ninth round of their November 2015 fight in Las Vegas to win that 130-pound championship. The Vargas-Miura match was voted “Fight of the Year” for 2015 by the Boxing Writers Association of America.
The 31-year-old Roman (56-12, 43 KOs), of Ciudad, Juarez, Mexico, had his 18-fight winning streak snapped. Before Saturday night, he hadn’t lost since fellow Mexican Dante Jordan (30-5, 23 KOs) defeated Roman by unanimous decision in a 12-rounder in October 2012.
A determined Miura finally floored the stubborn Roman with a left hand to the body late in the 10th round. Roman, out of breath and bleeding from a cut around his right eye, somehow made it to his feet and the bell sounded a couple seconds later to end the round.
Miura knocked down Roman again with a right-left-right combination early in the 11th round. Roman made it to his feet again. He appeared hurt and fatigued, though, and struggled to fend off the ever-aggressive Miura.
A short left hand by Miura early in the 12th round left Roman face-first on the canvas, and eventually flat on his back. He couldn’t get up after that third knockdown and referee Thomas Taylor counted him out 53 seconds into the 12th round.
When Miura was able to keep his distance, he landed straight left hands on Roman. But Roman tried to maul Miura inside and did his best to assault Miura’s body throughout the bout.
Roman seemed to hurt Miura with a straight right hand just before the end of the sixth round. Miura went after Roman in the first minute of the seventh round, but Roman withstood Miura’s power shots and kept coming.
By then, swelling was building up around Miura’s right eye and the former champion seemed to be tiring. But he was able to continue throwing power punches until he began hurting Roman in what previously was a highly competitive fight.
On the non-televised portion of the undercard, welterweight contender Sadam Ali scored a third-round knockout against Jorge Silva in a scheduled 10-rounder.
Brooklyn’s Ali, a 2008 American Olympian, improved to 24-1 and recorded his 14th knockout. Mexico’s Silva (22-13-2, 18 KOs) has lost 10 of his past 12 fights.
Keith Idec is a senior writer/columnist for BoxingScene.com. He can be reached on Twitter @Idecboxing.