Miranda Sounds Off On Taylor, Pavlik

[RAESAAD]

Man... I cant wait for Miranda to **** Taylor up like he did Abraham. How anyone can stick up for Taylor is beyond me.

(btw... who is the fat hairy ***** in your avatar? and why?)

[cupcrazy01]

If Miranda fights a former junior middleweight king like Winky Wright, he will most likely lose. So, the guy better shut his big ass mouth and worry about pavlik, you haven't earned the opportunity to fight taylor yet, get the job done and then open your mouth.

Taylor did not get flak for fighting Winky. Winky is not considered a jr.middle anymore--he hasn't been since before the Tito fight, and after his performance in that one, where he looked bigger and stronger than Tito, he has been regarded as a full-fledged middleweight.

Miranda is referencing all the pre-Hopkins fights and the Ouma fight to go along with this Spinks fight. Few would argue with you that Winky would school Miranda...he is undisputed top 5 P4P.

What exactly did Ouma and Spinks do to "earn" their fights vs. Taylor? Let's see.

Ouma, after his loss to Karmazin (at 154):
W TKO4 Alfredo Cuervas (155)
W TKO8 Francisco Antonio Mora (153)
W SD12 Marco Antonio Rubio (154)
W UD10 Sechew Powell (155)

TWO career fights above 155, both in 1998.

A solid performance against Powell, a DiBella fighter, did the trick. Two of the other fights (Cuervas and Mora) were FNF main events and the Rubio fight was on the DLH-Mayorga undercard, and he was floored in that fight.

Spinks, since his loss to Judah (at 147)

W SD12 Roman Karmazin (at 154)
W UD12 Rodney Jones (at 154)

TWO career fights at 160 (last in 2001), against Charles Ward and Larry Kenney, who had a combined 13-23-1 record. I doubt those were honest forays into the middleweight division...more like he just didn't want to make weight because they were joke fights.

A solid performance against Karmazin for the first 8 rounds anyway, did the trick, I suppose, since the Jones fight was nixed by Showtime for air. And the last 4 rounds of that Karmazin fight it was a track meet, and it was incredibly embarrassing. Oh well, here's your next middleweight title opponent!

Let's be honest: in boxing, it is not about EARNING anything, it is about selling tickets (hence the choice of Spinks, which makes for a great regional fight in Memphis) and getting on TV (HBO and Showtime hold the final call on alot of these cards).

BUT, sticking with your stance that he hasn't earned it, compare Miranda's recent resume with those of Ouma and Spinks, listed above:

Miranda, since it was announced he would fight Howard Eastman on FNF:

W TKO7 Howard Eastman--Miranda's breakout performance on ESPN (against a guy neither Arthur Abraham or Bernard Hopkins could stop)
L UD12 Arthur Abraham--we all know the story here, it was a fight many had Miranda winning, some to the point of crying absolute robbery (Dan Rafael).
W KO1 Willie Gibbs--BAD showcase, in which he did not disappoint. Gibbs is no contender, but seeing how he won, it is just as impressive as Ouma's win over Powell and Spinks' win over Karmazin.
W UD10 Allan Green--He had Green all but finished and out on his feet at the end of this one. A much better performance than anything Spinks or Ouma did to deserve a MIDDLEWEIGHT title shot. Middleweight is the key word here...

So, how again has Miranda NOT deserved a shot. I mean, this of course is ASSUMING (a large assumption, I admit) that he beats Pavlik. I am not a huge Miranda fan, I just take exception to what Taylor fans or whoever else says about Miranda not earning it yet.

WHAT EXACTLY DID TAYLOR DO TO EARN A SHOT AGAINST BERNARD HOPKINS??? Beat Raul Marquez and William Joppy's boxing corpse?

[cupcrazy01]

Taylor will eat that boy alive. he need to work on his boxing skills to go with that power. Because he really not that nice, Green should of let his hands go more and he would of beat him and Green is nowhere as athletic nice as Taylor.

Eat him alive? Come on, not even DiBella would say something like that.

Green may not be as athletic as Taylor, but the discrepancy isn't night and day. Taylor isn't exactly Mayweather out there, his boxing skills have not developed very much in his last few fights. He got the draw vs. Winky based on throwing alot of punches that he got credit for that didn't even land (just like the two Hopkins fights). His jab in those three fights was completely shut down.

Now it's true that he was fighting P4P opposition, and Miranda could never dream to box as well as Winky and Bernard can, but to act like Taylor is such a superior boxer that it will completely nullify Miranda's power is a stretch. This will not be Hopkins-Trinidad.

If Taylor wins, it will be after he displays championship heart after taking a few huge punches and having to weather some stormy moments. Taylor is there to be hit, and Miranda will land some big punches...if they ever fight.
I can see Taylor winning a decision or even stopping Miranda, but there is just no way he blows him out like you are saying. I thought he would blow Ouma out like that, and it didn't happen...not even close. And he will likely not catch Spinks, if he does at all, until the late rounds when Spinks is exhausted from running all night.