On September 23, IBF world champion Artur Abraham and Columbian boxer Edison Miranda came out to the ring in Veztler, Germany to box. Many were interested in the boxing match, which was supposed to take place in August but was postponed due to Abraham’s health conditions. Miranda claimed that Abraham was afraid to fight and had even challenged Arthur a couple of times and threatened to take away his championship title. During the press conference, the Columbian boxer had even made a physical threat by swinging his hand towards Arthur’s neck. A. Abraham had responded to that by showing him the middle finger and told him that he would see him in the hospital. This is all done for the sole purpose of intrigue. But everything had to be decided in the ring.
After the first round, it was clear that the match was going to be tense. It’s enough to say that neither of the boxers has lost a match. Arthur got a few blows in the first round, but mostly in the fourth round. However, in the next round he missed a blow, which really cost him. Edison hit Arthur in his jaw and blood was gushing out of his mouth during the whole match. In the same round, Miranda hit Abraham’s head on purpose. The referee took two points away from Miranda, however decided that the flow of blood wasn’t from the blow. If Arthur were to continue the match, it would be registered that he had a technical knockout and the championship cup would go to Miranda. Despite his broken jaw, the pain and the blood, Arthur proved himself a champion and continued to fight. In the seventh round, the Columbian boxer gave a few blows below the belt and got two points taken away. Arthur could have knocked Miranda out in the eight round, but Miranda resisted. The Columbian boxer made another few illegal blows and the match stopped for a couple of minutes. This gave Arthur the chance to take a breath. The last round was the most dramatic. Both were tired, but Arthur was tired the most and it seemed as though he was simply fighting until the end. The champion made it. The three referees gave the championship cup to Arthur. Although some papers wrote that the victory was due to Miranda’s five point reduction, however as you can see, Arthur had an advantage.
Of course, it would have been better if Arthur truly won, however going on strong for eight rounds with a serious physical injury shows his will to be the champion. But the injury was really serious. According to Fightnews.com, Arthur was transferred to the hospital after the match to go through a jaw operation. The operation was successful and according to his promoter Wilfred Zauerlend, Arthur will start training in 3-4 weeks. Despite the injury, Arthur said: “If it weren’t for my jaw, Miranda would be knocked-out in the sixth round…I could tell that he came out to the ring to lose from the beginning.”
I think that we will get to see Arthur stay true to his word in the boxing matches to come.