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??