A Big Week in Boxing!

[H2O Man]

WEDNESDAY - at Sacramento, California (ESPN2) - 10 rounds, featherweights: Roger Gonzalez (27-1, 18 KOs) vs. Cornelius Lock (17-3-1, 10 KOs); 10 rounds, lightweights: Vicente Escobedo (17-1, 11 KOs) vs. Cristian Favela (15-15-4, 9 KOs).

FRIDAY - at Las Vegas (ESPN2) - 10 rounds, heavyweights: Alonzo Butler (26-0-1, 19 KOs) vs. Friday Ahunanya (23-5-3, 13 KOs).

FRIDAY - at Georgetown, Cayman Islands (Showtime) - 10 rounds, super middleweights: Andre Ward (15-0, 10 KOs) vs. Jerson Ravelo (18-2, 12 KOs); 10 rounds, light middleweights: Ronald Hearns (18-0, 14 KOs) vs. Jose Luis Gonzalez (12-3-1, 10 KOs); 10 rounds, heavyweights: Eddie Chambers (30-1, 16 KOs) vs. Raphael Butler (31-4, 24 KOs).

SATURDAY - at Hollywood, Florida (Showtime) - 12 rounds, middleweights: Arthur Abraham (26-0, 21 KOs) vs. Edison Miranda (30-2, 26 KOs); 12 rounds, middleweights: Raul Marquez (41-3, 1 NC, 29 KOs) vs. Giovanni Lorenzo (26-0, 18 KOs).

SATURDAY - at Memphis, Tennessee (HBO) - 12 rounds, welterweights: Andre Berto (21-0, 18 KOs) vs. Miguel Angel Rodriguez (29-2, 23 KOs); 12 rounds, heavyweights: Chris Arreola (23-0, 21 KOs) vs. Chazz Witherspoon (23-0, 15 KOs).

This is going to be one of the best weeks of the summer for boxing fans, in terms of televised fight cards. ESPN will feature two cards that look interesting on paper. The WNF card highlights the lighter weight classes. FNF will give fans an opportunity to watch heavyweight prospect Alonzo Butler. The studio guest is the great Smokin’ Joe Frazier (see photo above), who has reportedly been dealing with some health problems in recent months.

ShowBox will present solid card on Friday night at 11pm est. At this time, they are planning to show three fights. The first will be heavyweight Eddie Chambers, on the "come back" trail after losing an uninspiring decision to Alexander Povetkin in January. He fights journeyman Raphael Butler, who tends to either win or lose by knockout. Also on the undercard is Ronald Hearns against Jose Luis Gonzales, in a jr. middleweight bout between a 6’3" and a 6’ tall young contenders.

The main event is former amateur star Andre Ward against Jerson Ravelo at super middleweight. Ward, who in 2004 won the Olympics (the first US boxing champion in 8 years), has been looking to take a step up in his low-profile professional career. Ravelo, who has only fought once since being KOed in 8 by Allan Green, may provide him with a tougher-than-expected fight.

On Saturday night, HBO and Showtime both feature interesting fight cards, and both involve important fights. Let’s start with HBO. On the undercard, two young heavyweights with 23-0 records meet: Chaz Witherspoon has 15 KOs, and Chris Arreola has 21 KOs. Chaz, the cousin of former "title holder" Tim Witherspoon, was a top amateur star, who has good skills, but is not a particularly hard puncher. Arreola has less natural ability, but is strong, aggressive, and hits hard. This is the type of fight where Chaz will look to keep a slower pace at long range, and Chris will look to force the fight to the ropes, where he is dangerous. It could be a very good fight.

The main event features 2004 Olympian Andre Berto versus Miguel Rodriguez. Fans will remember seeing Berto fighting on the undercard of Taylor vs Hopkins2, Taylor vs Spinks, and Tarver vs Jones. He was also on ESPN FNF last July, in a Saratoga Springs card that I covered on DU. In that fight, he was decked and seriously hurt by journeyman Cosme Rivera. Rodriguez’s only lose was to Carlos Baldomir; he is almost 4 inches taller than the explosive Berto. This fight is unlikely to go the distance.

On Showtime, the undercard features undefeated Giovanni Lorenzo against an aging Raul Marquez. Lorenzo has won 26 in a row against relatively weak opposition. Marquez was TKOed by Frenando Vargas in 1999; TKOed by Jermain Taylor in 2004; and fought a "no contest" against Shane Mosley in 2003.

The main event may be the most important fight of the month. Arthur Abraham meets Edison Miranda in a "return match" of a controversial war. The winner of this fight may be next in line for the title, as long as Kelly Pavlik moves up in weight.

Abraham has the IBF "paper title" since 2005. He has never fought outside of Germany, where he was given a terrible decision win over Miranda in a fight that Showtime has been repeating this week. If you can, watch their first fight.

Both of these guys are strong, hard-punchers who foul their opposition as often as they can get away with it. Because Abraham fights in Germany, he got away with fouling Miranda without so much as a warning, while Miranda lost a total of 5 points. It was, for a variety of reasons, the very worst job by a referee I have ever seen ….not only in boxing, but in any sport. Randy Newman (who had fought Duane Bobick, Chuck Wepner, Jimmy Young, and Jerry Quarry before retiring in 1977) should never be allowed to referee a fight again.

In the 4th round, Miranda broke Abraham’s jaw with a crushing right hand punch. If you watch the film, you’ll see where at about 2 minutes into the round, Abraham can no longer close his mouth. In the 5th round, Miranda butts Abraham, with the impact being behind Abraham’s left ear. Many reporters would incorrectly attribute the broken jaw to the butt, though there is no question about what really happened.

Newman, who I suspect had a bet on the fight with an NBA referee he must be related to, gave Abraham a five-minute rest, including allowing two doctors to examine the jaw (and one took 2 minutes to "treat" the injury). If a fighter is hit low, for example, a doctor is not allowed to treat his cut eye during the break. After one doctor said Abraham couldn’t continue, Newmann had an extended discussion with his corner. Newman said he would take 2 points away from Miranda (so that if the fight went to the judges, Abraham would win). But then he said that the jaw injury was not from the butt, so if it ended, Miranda would win by TKO. A ref has no business engaging in that type of discussion with one fighter’s cornermen. He did take 2 points away for the butt, which is an incorrect action in and of itself.

Miranda dominated the rest of the fight, despite Newman’s attempts to help Abraham by taking 3 more points from Miranda. In a non-suprise, the judges gave the decision to Abraham – including two by a margin larger than the 5 points Newman took away.

Abraham without a broken jaw is certainly capable of beating Miranda. But Miranda is capable of beating Abraham. In his last fight, Miranda knocked tough David Banks through the ropes with a single punch. He reminds me of Eugene "Cyclone" Hart.

What is interesting to consider is how easily Kelly Pavlik beat Miranda, in Edison’s only real loss as a professional boxer. Pavlik might look to defend against the winner of this one, especially if it’s Abraham. That would make a heck of a fight.

[aint_no_life_nowhere]

1. I just saw a pretty good fight on ESPN

I'm talking about the Gonzalez/Lock fight. It goes to show that you can see an entertaining fight even if it isn't between marquee names. The match-up was good. I think Lock deserves credit for digging deep and finishing his opponent after having a few shaky rounds and suffering a busted nose and cut eye. I think Lock hurt Gonzalez with a left to the body in the seconds before the head shot that sent Gonzalez to the canvas for the first time in the 10th round.

I'm really looking forward to watching Miranda and Berto. Miranda is a monster although he's a bit unpolished. I'm anxious to see if his boxing skills have improved since the first fight with Abraham. If Miranda developed a bit more defensive skills and some self-control, he could be quite a force to contend with for anyone at middleweight or supermiddle. While the Abraham fight might have been stolen from Miranda, I give Abraham credit for just surviving that fight with the broken jaw. Miranda hits hard.

Berto is facing a decent fighter who's never been knocked out in 39 fights, although most of his fights have been in Mexico and against weaker competition. He lost lost a UD to Baldomir. This could be an interesting fight with Berto going against a taller, bigger fighter.

[H2O Man]

2. ESPN

is providing quality fights among boxers who are nearing the top of their divisions, often against guys who are on the way down. It makes for a similar quality as the FNFs of the '50s and '60s. Teddy Atlas has been pushing for ESPN to use promters that put on competitive matches, which reportedly caused some tension between him and the powers-that-be at ESPN (he was briefly suspended for drawing the line). I think that Teddy is one of the best advocates for the sport; it was rather obnoxious of one of The Ring's top writers to take a cheap shot at Teddy a couple of months ago.

I know I've told this story before, but last summer, when Berto was fighting at Saratoga, after a few rounds he began to through his punches wide. I said to my friend next to me that he was going to pay for his sloppy left hook. My friend said that the opponent was looking to drop the right-hand counter. A few seconds later, the counter right dropped Berto -- hard -- and he was very fortunate the round ended. His corner pulled a "Dundee classic," and the minute rest period was "extended" while they changed his glove.

I've seen him since then on tv, and he definitely learned from his mistake. I thjink he will become a top contender, and perhaps hold one of the paper titles. I do not think he will become the very best in his weight class, but he could surprise me on that. He does have explosive power, and a fast delivery, but he needs to set his feet to really be effective. That can be difficult against some of the top fighters that weight.

Miranda showed some fair defensive skills against Abraham in their first fight. Abraham also has to set his feet, and throws his punches too wide. Miranda made him miss dozens of hard punches. I assume that both are improved since their first war. Obviously, fighting 8 rounds with a broken jaw limits one's ability. What I think is interesting is to consider which guy will be better prepared mentally. Both have good reason to be cautious!

The FNFs and Showbox should be interesting tonight. Looking forward to your thoughts on these and the Saturday fights.

[H2O Man]

3. Big night in boxing!

I wish that the fight cards didn't overlap. At least they will "repeat." I'll get both on tape tonight.

Several friends coming over. Too bad some of the DU boxing fans didn't live closer.

[aint_no_life_nowhere]

4. I kind of feel bad for Miranda

I like the guy. I know he's got a big mouth and he's known as one of the biggest trash-talkers in boxing. But the guy's tremendous rise from utter poverty and a bleak existence is inspiring and something touching about him. I think there's a place for colorful trash-talkers in boxing and it kind of bothered me to see how humiliated and subdued Miranda looked after the fight. I hope the defeat didn't permanently diminish him but it just might have.

Miranda still is beset with defensive problems. He looked good through the first three rounds last night, landing some good body shots, but he wasn't using his jab effectively to come inside on Abraham and he was allowing Abraham to pot-shot him through his gloves. After that first knock-down, Miranda retreated straight back. He doesn't fight well going backwards and he doesn't know how to tie up his opponent. He's still relatively young, but his problems might be beyond a trainer's ability to improve at this point. I hope not.

Berto looked good and was very economical in his punch out put. I noted that Max Kellerman was berating Berto, asking why Berto wasn't more aggressive against his opponent and putting him away. Lennox Lewis seemed to come to Berto's defense, telling Kellerman that Berto was progressively breaking his opponent down and was pacing himself. It was amusing to me that just a few moments later, Berto stepped it up and knocked his opponent to the canvas. Kellerman seemed a little embarrassed.

[H2O Man]

5. I like Max,

but it is pretty obvious since he moved out of the ESPN studio and eventually to HBO at ringside, that he is a good boxing historian, but a poor fight analyst.