A Night At the Fights: HBO WCB for May 19
Fight #1: Edison Miranda (28-1, 24KOs) vs. Kelly Pavlik (30-0, 27 KOs), middleweight bout for universally recognized #1 contender
During the pre-fight press conference, Edison Miranda made a point of challenging the current middleweight champ, Jermain Taylor. He should have saved some of that energy for his actual opponent, Kelly Pavlik. This was a good, hard, physical fight; both fighters were throwing hard non-stop. It would have been a miracle if it had gone the distance. Pavlik, considered the underdog in this fight despite his undefeated record and reputation for being a good puncher, took it to Miranda, continually backing him into the ropes and pounding him. Miranda was no pushover, but apparently his problems making weight had an impact on him; he was sloppy both defensively and offensively. Pavlik's strategy of keeping Miranda moving backward appeared to be wise indeed; Miranda did seem incapable of throwing a punch while backpedaling.
The only off-note to this match was in the inept refereeing. In the 6th round, Pavlik knocks Miranda down. Miranda takes an 8-count, then spits out his mouthpiece right in front of the ref. At this point, the referee, Steve Smoger, should have called the fight, because not only is deliberately spitting out your mouthpiece to buy yourself some time not allowed, it's a clear indicator that you're not in any shape to continue at that moment. Instead, Smoger simply deducted a point from Miranda's score and allowed him the time to have his mouthpiece cleaned and put back in place. Pavlik proceeds to knock Miranda down again. By now, it's clear to just about everyone that Edison Miranda is toast--everyone EXCEPT Steve Smoger, who allows the fight to continue once again. By this time, there were only five seconds left in the round--which is the only reason Kelly Pavlik did not win in the 6th round. The 7th round was an unnecessary farce; Miranda's trainer was poised on the steps ready to throw in the towel, but this time Smoger did finally do what he should have done the round before.
Winner (by TKO in Round 7): Kelly Pavlik
Jade's Fight Grade: A- (which would have been an A if not for the crappy ref action)
This was the kind of fight De La Hoya vs. Mayweather should have been; action-packed from start to finish. Both fighters gave as good as they got, although Pavlik was clearly the superior fighter in this match. I've seen Edison Miranda fight before, and was impressed by his intensity and hard punching. This was not the Miranda I was used to seeing; for all his talk pre-fight, he did little to show that he deserved a title match. Kelly Pavlik, on the other hand, definitely made the most of the opportunity that has been handed to him. If people weren't talking about him before, they will be now.
Speaking of title match, we've got one coming up next:
Fight #2: Jermain Taylor (c.) (26-0-1, 17 KOs) vs. Cory Spinks (36-3, 11 KOs), middleweight title match
According to HBO, Sergio Mora of ESPN's "The Contender" was originally scheduled to fight Taylor, but withdrew because he felt that the fight location (Memphis, TN) was too advantageous to Taylor, a native of Little Rock, AR.
He shouldn't have worried. This fight was so boring, the crowd was chanting Spinks' name just for something to do.
Much like De La Hoya vs. Mayweather, this was one of those matches that looked interesting on paper. Cory Spinks, son of ex-heavyweight champ Leon and nephew of ex-heavyweight champ Michael, was moving up in weight for this fight. He's got a rep for speed and agility, while Jermain Taylor is known as a puncher.
Unfortunately, much like De La Hoya vs. Mayweather, this fight wasn't nearly as interesting as it should have been. Spinks spent most of his time staying out of reach of Taylor, and very little time actually hitting him with any kind of effectiveness. Taylor spent most of his time doing his impression of Bernard Hopkins (when Hopkins fought Taylor); lots of defense, almost no offense. I thought Taylor's trainer, the legendary Emanuel Steward, was going to pop a blood vessel yelling at Taylor, telling him repeatedly that Spinks couldn't hurt him and that he needed to get in thwere and throw more punches. It did him no good. Neither trainers' appeals nor the booing of the increasingly annoyed crowd made any impact on either fighter's performance.
The only interesting part of this match was the scoring at the end. Judge Dick Flaherty (a fellow resident of Massachusetts, I'm ashamed to admit) was announced as scoring the fight 111-107 for Spinks. This is a mathematically impossible score for a boxing match. After a few moments, Jim Lampley announced that Flaherty's actual score for the match was 117-111 for Spinks, which made it no longer impossible but actually laughable. Gale Van Hoy's score of 117-111 for Taylor was equally laughable, which left it to Michael Pernick to bring something resembling proper order to things with a score of 115-113...and give Taylor his 5th successful title defense.
Winner (and still champion): Jermain Taylor by split decision
Jade's Fight Grade: D
D for defense and D for dull. This was a glorified sparring match which did nothing to prove that either man deserved the title. At one point in the fight, an exasperated Emanuel Steward told Taylor that he wished Taylor was actually fighting Edison Miranda tonight instead of Spinks. That definitely would have been a better fight. As is, Taylor is going to have his hands full with Kelly Pavlik, assuming that he's willing to step into the ring and trade punches next time.
Overall Grade: C+
Pavlik/Miranda set the table for what could have been a great show, which Taylor/Spinks failed to deliver. If Taylor wanted to get the critics who say he doesn't deserve to be champ off his back, this wasn't the way to do it. Fighting Kelly Pavlik would go a long way towards proving Taylor a worthy champion, assuming Jermain's got the balls to take him on after the show Pavlik put on.
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