PAVLIK-ABRAHAM: THE ONLY FIGHT THAT MATTERS
Anthony Coleman

EastsideBoxing.com
June 23 2008

Let me make one thing clear from the start: I thought that Abraham
was going to win the fight. I knew he was the better technician on
offense and defense and before his jaw was broken by a Miranda uppercut
in the first fight, Abraham was giving the business to the Columbian
born fighter. However, going into the rematch I didn’t think that he
would blast Miranda out of thing ring, but in the fourth round that is
exactly what happened. The German based Armenian couldn’t have been
more impressive in his KO victory and he has now created universal
demand in the boxing world for a showdown with the Middleweight
champion of the world, Kelly Pavlik.

The first two rounds were won by Miranda based purely on activity as
Abraham went into his high guard defensive shell. The whole time,
while Miranda swung for the fences Abraham was studying him and
waiting to attack. In the third round the game plan was put into
fruition as the German was able to tee off on Miranda with extremely
accurate counter punches. In the fourth round Abraham scored a left
hook knockdown over Miranda. "Pantera" was able to beat the count,
but then was sent back down by another huge left hook by Abraham. This
time he was slower in getting up and was still allowed to continue,
but the end was clearly at hand if couldn’t force a clinch. The clinch
didn’t happen and Abraham landed another brutal left hook that sent
Miranda a few feet into the ropes and then to the ground. The referee
immediately waved the fight off and Abraham had earned unquestionably
his greatest career victory.

I couldn’t have been more impressed with Abraham’s performance
and skills. He has good handspeed, a high defensive guard, is a
great counter puncher, has good footwork, and he is perhaps the most
underrated puncher in boxing today. Yet the most damaging aspect of his
game is his versatility. When he wanted to hang back and let Miranda
pound on his high guard, he was able to deflect the blows. When he
decided to draw the line in the sand and toss those counters he was
able to fade Pantera into oblivion. Abraham has now earned a permanent
fan in this boxing writer.

Although this fight took place at 165 pounds, the overall dominance
of his performance has made a potential showdown with Pavlik the
only fight that matters at Middleweight. If he is able to get back
down to 160 pounds he has now made himself unavoidable to Pavlik. If
this fight doesn’t happen within the year then Middleweight title is
essentially worthless.

Yet for the next few months, a Abraham and Pavlik showdown will
probably be put on hold because of Boxing’s politics. Abraham will
probably take on his IBF mandatory, Raul Marquez in October or
November; and Pavlik will probably take on Marco Antonio Rubio in
that same time period. If that were to happen then I would hope for
both fights to be shared on the same card so to create more demand
for this fight. It is not only the biggest fight to be made in the
Middleweight division, but in boxing PERIOD.