Arthur Abraham

By William MacKay: It’s been an incredible 21 months, almost two years since the two last fought, and it’s seemed more than a lifetime for super middleweight knockout artist Edison Miranda (30-2, 26 KOs) who has been deeply bitter since that time when he lost a controversial 12-round unanimous decision to IBF middleweight champion Arthur Abraham (26-0, 21 KOs) in Arthur’s adopted country Germany. The fight, which had high expectations going into the bout, turned into a confusing fight, stopped on four separate occasions with Miranda getting 5 points taken away from him for a mix of fouls – low blows and a head butt.

Abraham, fighting in his high energy style, had his jaw broken in the 4th round when he ran into a straight right hand from Miranda. From then on, Abraham was forced to fight with his mouth wide open, with blood constantly pouring out. The fight should have been stopped, but there didn’t seem to be anyone in charge willing to make that decision, certainly not the referee Randy Neumann, who looked like he was waiting for the ringside doctor to make the call. It didn’t, and Abraham was forced to fight the rest of the way with his jaw broken badly. As it turns out, even with the point deductions given back, Miranda would have lost regardless, as the judges had Abraham soundly defeating Miranda in the fight.

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By Aaron Klein: Last time the two met two years ago, Edison Miranda (30-2, 26 KOs) appeared to be the better fighter offensively, stalking and pounding away on IBF middleweight champion Arthur Abraham (26-0, 21 KOs), breaking his jaw in the 4th round. However, due to a string of point deductions made against Miranda by referee Randy Neumann, totaling an incredible 5 points, Abraham was able to win the fight by a unanimous decision by the ridiculous scores of 114-109, 115-109 and 115-109. The scores, though, looked nothing like the actual fight that took place that night in which it was Miranda who did most of the punching, landing the high number of shots (mostly power punches) and pressing the action constantly during the fight.

For his part, Abraham generally moved around, covering up constantly on the ropes and trying to wade out Miranda’s attacks. When Abraham would punch, it would be in short flurries of shots near the end of the round as he tried to pull out the round. Obviously, Abraham has been trained to know that he can win rounds by fighting hard in the last half minute, while coasting during the first two and a half minutes of every round. This is what Abraham seemed to be doing against Miranda, which made it almost impossible for Abraham to win any of the rounds, even with his last second flurries.

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By Jim Dower: On June 21st, Edison Miranda (30-2, 26 KOs) and undefeated Arthur Abraham (26-0, 21 KOs) meet to settle some unfinished business in a 12-round bout at the Seminole Hard Rock Hotel and Casino, in Hollywood, Florida. Their first fight, fought two years ago on September 23, 2006, ended up with Abraham winning in a highly controversial manner, due to Miranda being docked five points by Randy Neumann. However, removing the point deduction from the equation, Miranda appeared to win the vast majority of the fight, excluding rounds 5, 7 and 9. Abraham, the IBF middleweight champion, fought only sporadically for most of the fight after having his jaw broken in the 4th round by Miranda.

After appearing to have lost the first four rounds of the fight, Abraham lucked out in the 5th round when Miranda lost his cool and heat-butted Abraham. The bout was stopped at that time, giving Abraham an extended period of time to have his jaw worked, even though the head butt hadn’t occurred in the area of the jaw.

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By Erik Schmidt: The war of words between IBF middleweight champion Arthur Abraham (26-0, 21 KOs) and super middleweight Edison Miranda (30-2, 26 KOs) continue on, this time with Abraham’s trainer Uli Wegner chiming in, saying “this time Abraham will knock Miranda out.” He made indeed be right, because the latest word is that Abraham is having an excellent training camp and is looking the best he’d ever looked. That can’t be good news for Miranda, who previously lost a 12-round unanimous decision to Abraham in September 2006.

The fight, as most people already know, turned out to be a controversial one, in which Abraham’s jaw was broken in two places, and Miranda being penalized numerous times, twice in the 5th & 7th, and once in the 11th round for low blows, and a head butt. Honestly, it was minor miracle that Miranda wasn’t disqualified by referee Randy Neumann, who showed the patience of a saint by allowing Miranda to stay in the fight despite his repeated fouls. I know that Neumann has taken a lot of heat from the boxing fans, especially American fans, but he didn’t deserve any of it as far as I’m concerned, because he was only calling what he was seeing in the fight in terms of fouls from Miranda.

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By Erik Schmidt: Edison Miranda (30-2, 26 KOs) hopes to get a fair decision this time out when he takes on unbeaten middleweight Arthur Abraham (26-0, 21 KOs) in their revenge match in June 21st at the Seminole Hard Rock Hotel and Casino, in Hollywood, Florida. Miranda, 27, was given what many people consider a poor decision when he lost to Abraham by a controversial 12-round unanimous decision in September 2006. Miranda, who dominated most of the rounds, breaking Abraham’s jaw in the fourth round and appearing to do more than enough to get the win over Abraham.

However, Miranda was penalized a total of five points in the fight, ranging from low blows to the use of his head. There’s no question that Abraham was guilty of using his head on one occasion but as far as the low blows go, those were punches on the border of Abraham’s beltline and it seemed way out of line to penalize Miranda for such questionable shots. Worse, however, was that the fight was stopped in the fourth round to have Abraham’s jaw looked at by a ring side doctor. Abraham ended up being allowed to continue fighting but he mostly was limited to brief flurries in every round, missing the vast majority of his punches every time. Abraham only landed a small handful of punches in each round following the fifth round, while taking tremendous punishment from Miranda, who continuously landed big bombs with both hands.

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By Nate Anderson: After waiting close to two years for the rematch to occur, knockout artist Edison Miranda (30-2, 26 KOs) and middleweight champion Arthur Abraham (26-0, 21 KOs) will meet to settle the score in a fight that will take place in the United States, at a weight of 166 lbs rather than the middleweight limit of 160 lbs. Their first fight, fought on September 23rd 2006, was one of the most exciting fights in memory, with both fighters trading tremendous shots and hurting each other several times in the fight.

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