General

Round by Round: Weekly Boxing Notes

Jun 20, 2008, 6:00 PM UTC

The Kimbo Slice of Boxing
â†µNo, Edison Miranda is not quite as notorious as Kimbo, but there are quite a few similarities between the two men. Both have back-stories of poverty and deprivation, both are extremely raw technically but get by on sheer guts and punching power, both have become internet stars via YouTube vids, and both are apt to ruin your day with one clean shot to the choppers. Granted, the videos that have circulated of Miranda’s efforts on YouTube were shot on national television and not the backyards of Miami. On the other hand, I’ve never seen Kimbo Slice do this to anybody, the ole shot-from-a-gun one-punch sleepification that has become Miranda’s trademark:â†µ

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Tomorrow night, Miranda, a.k.a La Pantera, fights in an effort to avenge one of the two losses on his record, a loss that many would argue (including myself) that he didn’t deserve. His fight with IBF middleweight champ Arthur Abraham in September of ’06 was one of the wildest, bloodiest affairs in recent memory, a bout that Abraham fought the majority of with a broken jaw that oozed slasher-movie pools of blood, and a bout in which Miranda was penalized five points by the ref for fouls, saddling him with a deficit that made it next to impossible for him to get a decision on the scorecards. â†µâ†µThe Abraham/Miranda fight tomorrow night on Showtime is not for any belt – it’s being fought at a catch-weight of 166. But this is one of those grudge matches where alphabet titles are utterly irrelevant. Trust me, people – even the casual boxing fan will not want to miss this thing. With bangers like these two having this much to prove, rarely is a fight so guaranteed to deliver jaw-dropping (breaking) action.â†µ

â†µâ†µ(For more on this loaded weekend of fistic festivities, check out my full preview over at No Mas.)â†µ

â†µâ†µThe Very Thing That Makes Them Rich Makes Them Poor
â†µOr to put it another way, the very thing that makes Mexican fighters such great champions often makes them very dangerous to themselves in the long run. The latest exhibit in this phenomenon? All-time great Erik Morales, El Terrible, who after retiring last year is reportedly planning a return to the ring in 2009.â†µ

â†µâ†µGranted, the man is only 32. But 32 in Erik Morales’s Brain Years is considerably older than for your average mook on the street. When you consider that he was literally born in a boxing gym (so legend has it), that he fought 114 amateur bouts, that he turned pro when he was 16 years old, and that in his illustrious pro career he was in so many ridiculous slugfests – Zaragoza, Pocket Rocket Wayne McCullough, three times with Barrera, three times with Pacquiao – well, when you consider all of that you can’t help but acknowledge that El Terrible is a very old 32 indeed. â†µ

â†µâ†µHe certainly hasn’t been the same over the last few years, that’s for sure, beginning with his surprising loss to Zahir Raheem in the fall of ’05. Following that were two consecutive losses to Pac Man followed by a disputed decision loss to David Diaz in Morales’s first fight at 135. Across that time, nearly everyone I talked to had the same opinion – he was shot. The warrior years had taken their toll, as they always do.â†µ

â†µâ†µYou can understand why a champion of Morales’s caliber doesn’t want to end his career on a string of defeats, and yet it’s the cruel paradox of fighting that you almost always go out on an ugly loss, which begins a relentless cycle of comebacks. A great champ winds down and loses to mediocre competition. He retires, but then comes back, determined to regain his glory. He maybe wins a few against some real tomato-cans but then gets embarrassed when he tries to win back a belt. Then he turns around and says, “I can’t end my career getting embarrassed like that…” â†µ

â†µâ†µNext thing you know you got Ali fighting Trevor Berbick in the Bahamas. You got Sugar Ray Leonard getting destroyed by Macho Camacho. You got Julio Cesar Chavez retiring on his stool to Grover Wiley in Phoenix. â†µ

â†µâ†µAlong with Jose Luis Castillo, Erik Morales has been one of this generation’s true heirs to the grand tradition of Chavez and all that he represented as a Mexican fighter. Now, however, it seems like he’s prepared to follow Chavez (and Castillo it seems) down that long dark road of fistic excess that, as we’ve seen time and time and time again, leads to no palace indeed.â†µ

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This post originally appeared on the Sporting Blog. For more, see The Sporting Blog Archives.

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