By Jim Dower: Former middleweight contender Edison Miranda (34-6, 29 KO’s) was beaten by Cuban Yordanis Despaigne (9-1, 4 KO’s) by a 5th round disqualification on Friday night at the Cosmopolitan of in Las Vegas, Las Vegas, Nevada. Miranda was in trouble from the very first round, getting rocked by some big shots from Despaigne and lucky to survive the round.

Things turned even worse for Miranda when he landed a weak right hand low at the end of the 2nd. Instead of being warned about it, referee Vic Drakulich hastily took a point away. Drakulich then took another point away in the 3rd round for a left hand that strayed low by Miranda. And then finally Drakulich disqualified Miranda in the 5th for a low blow that Miranda landed while having his head pulled down by Despaigne.

I can’t say I was impressed with the job that Drakulich did working the fight. I think he did a dreadful job, and ruined what would have been a good fight by quickly taking away points rather than letting things go with warnings. He may have been calling a strict fight but he ruined it for the fans who came there who wanted to see Miranda and Despaigne mix it up. I know that if I’m Miranda, I wouldn’t ever want to have anything to do with a a fight involving Drakulich.

For the 30-year-old Miranda, this was his 3rd loss in his last 5 fights and you have to seriously wonder whether he should hang up his gloves. He’s quickly heading towards journeyman status and it’s going to be tough for him to try and turn his sagging career around at this point.

In other action on the card, light heavyweight Sergey Kovalev (16-0, 14 KO’s) defeated Douglas Oteino (23-7, 12 Ko’s) by a 2nd round TKO.