Keeping up with the Abrahams

I have just put up this picture of Arthur Abraham and myself. It was taken at the weigh-in for his most recent fight against Edison Miranda. It was great to meet him, but I must say, both my friend Jeremy and I were rooting for Miranda that night. Nothing against Abraham--he's a real solid fighter, and he seems like a fine guy, but what can I say, we were hoping to see a Miranda victory. We had met Edison that weekend as well--what a character: he was constantly smiling, jubilant, and overall a cool guy.

So there we were that night right up close to the ring. We had just seen one awesome fight between Raul Marquez and Gio Lorenzo. On a side note, Jeremy and I were really pulling for Marquez. The manner in which he mustered up the will to take it to this young contender was something special to witness. Marquez truly won over every ambivalent spectator that night. Anyways, for the first three rounds of the main event, Miranda was walking Abraham down, cutting the ring off nicely and landing some decent shots...but something wasn't right. Abraham was a little too calm in there. It began to appear as though Abraham was allowing Miranda to throw punches; he was allowing Miranda to come forward. At no time did it appear as though Miranda had taken control, despite the fact that he was the only one throwing.

The fourth round.

Abraham sprung open like a jack-in-the-box and tore into Miranda with a barrage, three knockdowns deep leading to the stoppage. Truly a spectacular performance which unfolded in the blink of an eye. The largely pro-Miranda crowd was stunned. The bad blood between these two camps produced a tension-filled ring, as there was pushing, yelling...and (attempted) chair throwing. Jeremy and I saw a member of the Miranda camp jump out of the ring, grab a folding chair, and run along side the canvas to the Abraham corner, up the stairs, before being tackled by security. We remained in the arena for maybe another five or so minutes before making our way out to the casino.

We went to grab a beer in the ultra-packed bar, and sitting there is Alexander Abraham, Arthur's brother. I found it a bit odd that he was already planted at the bar while his brother was no doubt in the dressing room, or possibly at the post-fight press conference already. I made my way over to him. I shook his hand and quickly found out he didn't speak much English. It was OK--I only had a two-word question: "Kelly Pavlik?" I said. He said, "No, Marquez. Then Pavlik." Then quickly, a man came up behind him, told him something which I couldn't hear, and they both darted off together. Strange indeed. But with adrenaline still pumping from an awesome night of boxing, and with my mind's eye seeing a Kelly Pavlik/Arthur Abraham match-up in the future, I didn't give it all too much thought. It was a few days later, that I read on one of the boxing websites that "Alexander Abraham was detained in the casino bar after the fight." Apparently, he was in the middle of all the action in the ring post-fight, and had to be escorted out. Not a bad place to be detained I guess.

When all was said and done, it was one awesome weekend in Hollywood, Florida. The Hard Rock Casino is a great place to watch a fight, with a serious boxing buzz on Friday and Saturday. And who knows who you may run into at the casino bar post-fight??

Scattered thoughts

It was great to see boxing back in full force this past weekend. Besides the Judah/Clottey card on the 2nd, August truly was an off-season. So taking a load off this past Saturday evening was rewarding, as written in the previous post, the anticipation was great for this particular card. Here are some scattered thoughts...Shobox is truly an unsung hero for the sport...Yonnhy Perez looked good. To me, he is a poor man's Kelly Pavlik: same body type, he is rangy, long, he puts his punches together well, and has a solid but not flashy defense, yet he lacks the power, precision, and sheer strength of Pavlik. I would like to see Perez in there with someone in the top ten soon...I typically like the Charles/Farhood duo. I think they are a good fit for Shobox, but I thought their commentary was a little off: they were pushing for Perez to get his guy out of there. However, how many times have we seen a young gun underestimate his opponent when his punches start to land, and proceed to go wild, get sloppy, run out of gas, and possibly get caught? (It should be noted that this is not solely a prospect trait) The young Perez stayed relaxed, but kept busy, landing clean shots on a guy who has a more-than-sturdy melon. He continued this way until the fight was appropriately stopped. I see nothing wrong with the way he fought, in fact I thought it was a very solid performance...I can't recall a time in which I have seen a guy who is used to throwing 100 punches per round, hit the wall as suddenly and as blatantly as Barrios did against Juarez. I'm sure Rocky's work to the body ushered the turn of events, and I commend him for jumping on the opportunity like a champ, but would it have killed him to open up sooner?...People seem a bit let down on the Katsidis/Diaz fight. Vazquez/Marquez it was not, but come on guys, it was a good fight. Diaz fought smart and showed that he has become better because of the Campbell loss. Good for him. Just because a fight promises action, does not mean it has to be a Gatti/Ward style brawl. Senseless violence is why we have UFC...Barrios' lip was the one of the more disturbing things I have seen in a boxing match. I put it up there with Abraham's jaw, Lujan's ear, and Glen Hamada's scorecard...Poor Lennox Lewis. Sure, he's articulate, just not when he is speaking into a microphone. We should cut him a break though. When he said, "Let me tell you, the referee is going to be the most important man in that ring besides the two fighters." I knew what he meant. I think...

The Waiting is the Best Part

What a great feeling it is on the night (as our British friends would say) after a long stretch of welcomed anticipation for a big fight. Anticipation is a great thing that we as boxing fans know so well as an element to the fight game: a potential match-up is suggested before getting made, possible outcomes play out in our mind's eye, we read interviews and articles on the net, we are sometimes treated with an HBO countdown show, we write in to mailbags while reading others' views, we watch the weigh-in and stare down, we read about the fighters' respective camps, their conditioning, their past fights, what they have learned, what they will bring come fight night, we debate with fellow die hards about weight, styles, power, speed, stamina, precedents and unknowns...

And what better arena to witness it all play out than the ultimate truth stage: the boxing ring.