Next Great Middleweight.....

The next great middleweight? October 18, 2005 By Karl Freitag His name is Edison "Pantera" Miranda, and with an unbeaten 24-0 record and devastating knockout power, people are starting to take notice. Rated WBO #5, and IBF #9, Miranda has flattened 21 of his 24 opponents, fifteen on the first round, and the three foes who made it to the end took a serious beating. Miranda is scheduled to battle Sherwin Davis (18-1, 12 KOs) on Friday's "Rumble at the Rock" pay-per-view telecast presented by Warrior's Boxing Promotions. The 24-year-old KO artist from Buenaventura, Colombia, spoke to Fightnews.com about his career, his training habits, his opinion of the other top middleweights and more. You have 15 first round knockouts, 3 knockouts in the second round, 1 knockout in the third round and 1 knockout in the fifth round. Do you rely upon the knockout punch? That's my job. If I'm well prepared, I will always do it and I will always hit hard. If I'm not prepared right, I'm not going to have any force to hit anybody with or knock anybody out. For me it's not so important to get the knockout. I want to be a complete champion. Only champions can demonstrate that they can go twelve rounds, even fifteen rounds. You have gone the distance in all three of the fights since you have relocated to the U.S. Is it because the competition is tougher? No it's not because of that. The truth is I've got a new trainer and I've done the work that he told me to do. I've always worked and worked out for the distance, for stamina. I've haven't had any problems. I'm a boxer. I'm one of the best boxers in the world. The only thing is the last three fights in the U.S., I really didn't think I was going to be up against those types of boxers. I'm trying to go up against boxers like Bernard Hopkins, Winky Wright, Felix Trinidad, who are boxers who have experience. Certain Taylor is a boxer I really don't care about. When those boxers go box, they box the seventh, the eighth, the tenth rounds. Certain Taylor, no. Thoughts on Hopkins-Taylor I? I was there ringside and Bernard Hopkins won it. But I think that he needed to pressure him more as a champion. And the first six rounds what he did was try to get inside, but I don't know what happened. I think that in this fight (December 3) he's going to beat Taylor. Thoughts on Winky Wright? He's a dangerous boxer. You can't be cautious with him. You have to fight. Thoughts on the middleweights who just fought on the Contender TV series? I'll kill them all. How soon before you're ready for the top middleweights? The truth is I could fight with any of them right now, and I could win. But to me, I need to get more skills. Certain Taylor, I could fight him tomorrow if I wanted. But Bernard Hopkins, Tito Trinidad, those are boxers I have much respect for and I need more time to train for something like that. What been your toughest fight so far? I had a fight in 2003, Darmel Castillo, he was good. He was the home boxer and he was inspired because it was in his hometown. He hit me hard. Things that happen in boxing. But in the fifth round I knocked him out. There was a switch in opponents from Angel Hernandez to Sherwin Davis. How does that affect you? What affects me is the last week of training. But I train, I workout. I work hard. The secrets of the big champions, Bernard Hopkins, Muhammad Ali, Frazier, the base of it was their training. So it doesn't matter to change the opponent. You were abandoned as a child and grew up on the street as Columbia. Now, here in the U.S., you have a roof over the head, you a promising prospect who might make millions of dollars one day. I'm going to be big in this game. I'm only dedicated to boxing and not to go back to the streets where I started. It worries me, I don't want to go back to the streets. Everyone here loves me here and takes care of me, but it's not the same as some of your blood brothers and your mother. I can't be with them. The only thing that interests me right now is to work, demonstrate that I'm a great fighter and to make money, so I can have a home and try to get back with my family and my own blood, get married, and have my own family. That's what's important to me. I understand that you wish to raise awareness about abandoned and homeless children? How do you plan to accomplish that worthy goal? First of all, when I win enough money, the first thing I want to do, in Colombia and anywhere in the world is start a foundation where the kids in the streets can eat. Being hungry in the streets is a serious thing. I found myself going three, four, five days without eating anything, without drinking water and that's not right. You don't have anybody to help you. And I want to be that help. They can lean on me. I want to be a good example for the world. What's a typical day like for Edison Miranda? My day is training. I love to train. I just want to keep training. I get up to run and Stacy (trainer Stacy McKinley) says to run for 40 minutes. And I look at the watch and it's 40 minutes already. Bernard Hopkins runs 60 minutes, so I've got to run 70 minutes. I always train for 100% plus more on top of what my rivals would train. What do you do other than train? I watch a lot of videos of Muhammad Ali. I've seen them all. Joe Frazier, George Foreman, Marvin Hagler, Sugar Ray Leonard, Tito Trinidad, and of course I watch my own fights to see my mistakes, because I do have a lot of mistakes in the boxing ring. But my rivals don't see my mistakes, they should, but I'm the one that's going to correct them so I'm doing film on myself to see what it is that I can correct. What about outside of boxing? Watch TV and eat, to make up for all those years that I didn't eat in the streets. (His favorite meal is fish). Any comments for your fans? This first thing I'd like to say, not only to the American public, but the entire world is that I was someone who was nothing, was nobody, and look at myself. Sometimes nothing is everything and everything is nothing. I was nothing and I worked hard and got away from the street. I want to take care of people and I want the rest of the world to know I want to be the champion of the world. For kids, for old people, for young people, I want them to support me and I also want to support other boxers. * * * Tickets are on sale now for – "Rumble at the Rock". They are priced at $150, $100, and $50. Doors open at 6:30pm and the first bell rings at 7:30pm. For more information please call The Casino Box Office or visit www.ticketmaster.com. The explosive October 21st “Rumble at the Rock” from the Hard Rock Live Arena in Hollywood, Florida features an electrifying heavyweight matchup between David “The Tuaman” Tua and Cisse “Cool C” Salif, as well as high-impact bouts between Jameel McCline and Zuri Lawrence, and Yuri Foreman and Troy Lowry in addition to Miranda vs Davis. The InDemand pay-per-view broadcast begins at 9pm ET / 6pm PT. Suggested retail price is $24.95.