Friend of our site


MMA Headlines


UFC HP


Bleacher Report


MMA Fighting


MMA Torch


MMA Weekly


Sherdog (News)


Sherdog (Articles)


Liver Kick


MMA Junkie


MMA Mania


MMA Ratings


Rating Fights


Yahoo MMA Blog


MMA Betting


Search this site



Latest Articles


News Corner


MMA Rising


Audio Corner


Oddscast


Sherdog Radio


Video Corner


Fight Hub


Special thanks to...

Link Rolodex

Site Index


To access our list of posting topics and archives, click here.

Friend of our site


Buy and sell MMA photos at MMA Prints

Site feedback


Fox Sports: "Zach Arnold's Fight Opinion site is one of the best spots on the Web for thought-provoking MMA pieces."

« | Home | »

(Boxing) Andre Ward takes care of business against Edison Miranda

By Zach Arnold | May 17, 2009

Print Friendly and PDF

If you’ve been watching sports programming in the Bay Area for the last month, you haven’t been able to escape the promotional machine known as Andre Ward. He’s been on Comcast Sportsnet with Greg Papa on SF Chronicle Live. He’s been on the local TV stations with Tim Kawakami and others, talking about how he is going to bring his game to a new level against Edison Miranda.

The fight, which took place at Oracle Arena (the old Coliseum Arena), saw Ward beat Miranda by a unanimous 12-round decision victory. Next up is Carl Froch, who may end up fighting in the States if promoter Dan Goossen has any leverage (doubtful – the money will be significantly better in the UK for such a fight). 7,818 will be hyped as a big number, but Oracle is a huge building… Is Ward now the complete package as a fighter? The Ward/Miranda fight aired on Showtime.

There was a Stitch Duran sighting during the fight, and Andre Ward was happy that he was there in his corner.

Lowell Cohn, who was on Comcast Sportsnet with Andre Ward, said that Ward’s performance was bittersweet because he should have put Miranda away.

Topics: Boxing, Media, Zach Arnold | 16 Comments » | Permalink | Trackback |

16 Responses to “(Boxing) Andre Ward takes care of business against Edison Miranda”

  1. Zack says:

    Ward dominated. First few rounds were awesome, then it was just total domination. Would have been nice to see Ward finish, but no shame in dominating a tough dude like Miranda.

  2. 45 Huddle says:

    The first fight seemed like a work to me.

  3. Alan Conceicao says:

    Froch’s last interview had him discussing his management talking with Kessler and Bute’s folks. Froch is in a weird spot: he should be a major draw now, but the fight with Taylor didn’t get distributed in the UK. He could sell well in Nottingham but there’s actually better opportunities to have him leave the home base right now.

  4. JStein says:

    I love Andre. He’s a hometown hero in Oakland, and I remember watching him at the Olympics when I was in high school.

    He’s a great fighter, and I like watching him and I hope he continues to do well.

  5. Robert Poole says:

    Ward’s lateral movement gave Miranda fits all night. Miranda has a lot of power but not a whole lot of handspeed and so he was having a hard time catching Ward when he was moving to his side. His trainers need to teach him how to cut off the ring because anybody that keeps moving to their side is going to give Miranda all sorts of problems…

    The other issue is Miranda knows he has power and relies too much on it. It seemed from Round One he was loading up the right to throw it one punch at a time. If someone has a good chin that strategy is never going to work.

    A final comment. Nick Charles, the ShoBox announcer disparaged Miranda all night long and kept picking at every little thing he did as if he were a cheater, a failure, a loser… he was totally in the tank for Ward from the opening bell. It’s not the first time he’s done this. IIRC, he did the same thing for Lucian Bute against Librado Andrade, disparaging Andrade all night long and even justifying the ref’s obvious mistake/bias in giving Bute extra time on the 10 count to save him at the end.

    Charles is the worst pro boxing commentator I have ever heard and few show their bias as badly as he does. I with Showtime would stay with Gus Johnson as their main play by play guy on Showtime Championship Fights and move Kenny Albert into Charles’ slots. It makes me almost not want to watch ShoBox and I am a huge Boxing fan.

    Rp

  6. The Gaijin says:

    It’s been completely dispelled that Bute was “saved” by that mistake/bias. He was up before 10 (had the proper count been performed) and the round and fight would have then be over.

  7. Robert Poole says:

    Dispelled by who? Your opinion? I watched that several times he is up and not ready to fight again right around 10. If the fight wasn’t out of time chances are the ref stops it because Bute is out on his feet.

    It’s clear that Wright screwed Andrade hardcore and only those who want to defend Bute say otherwise.

    Rp

  8. The Gaijin says:

    Umm anyone with a brain and ability to count? They did an entire segment on the controversial finish on “In This Corner” with Russ Anber and he had a clock up to count the time from when Bute hit the canvas to the time he was on his feet. NOT 10 SECONDS.

    Watch the video – he goes down with like 6 seconds left in the fight. Now you cannot be saved by the bell, however if you’re able to count you can see that 10 seconds do not elapse before he’s back on his feet.

    At that point he’s beat the 10 count and since the 12th round is over – so too is the fight. Whether or not “if that fight wasn’t out of time…” is irrelevant because if Andrade wanted to KO him he should have done it during the 12 rounds the fight was on – but he was too busy getting thrashed.

  9. Robert Poole says:

    So wait a Canadian show defended a Montreal fighter and a Montreal ref and that is somehow incontrovertible?

    And apparently you didn’t watch the fight, Bute might have been winning on the cards but he never hurt Andrade once during that fight. Andrade has a pretty solid chin so to say he was thrashed is a heck of a stretch.

    Rp

  10. Chuck says:

    Gaijin,

    Actually, Bute technically didn’t make the count, by the unified rules of boxing. Yeah, he “got up” around the count of seven, I remember it very well. But do you remember how he got up? He used the ropes to get himself back up. That’s not allowed. You’re supposed to get up on your own accord, not with the help of the ropes. Many refs over-look something like that because that rule isn’t ever hammered in. And it seems like it isn’t really a big deal, especially because if your are up, then you are up. It’s not like a ref will DQ a fighter for doing something like that, or make him go back down. And a point deduction would have been pointless at that point. But it is a rule.

  11. The Gaijin says:

    Well I consider Russ Anber to be a pretty credible and knowledgeable guy (and if biggest knock is that they share the same nationality, that’s pretty weak) and honestly how is it not incontrovertible when it’s CLEAR that he’s on his feet well before 10 seconds would have passed? There’s no subjectivity to counting to 10.

    I certainly did see the fight – but you’re right, that calling it thrashing isn’t the best description. He was (imo and I don’t think it’s too disputed) dominating him on the scorecards, but I guess “thrashed” wasn’t exactly the best classification. Thoroughly dominating him and the better boxer?

    I believe there’s a rematch coming up – so I guess they’ll be able to put most of the issues to rest.

    Chuck – Thanks, I was not actually aware that, that was a rule! But if that’s the biggest quibble on it, then it’s pretty hollow because fighters do that so often referees probably don’t even realize it’s a rule – or in the least enforce it.

  12. Ivan Trembow says:

    That was a star-making performance by Andre Ward. Edison Miranda is legit, and dominating him like that is a big accomplishment.

    Also, I agree with Robert Poole’s point that Nick Charles was being too hard on Miranda, but I disagree about Nick Charles being a bad announcer in general.

    I usually enjoy the commentary of Nick Charles and Steve Farhood just about as much as I enjoy any announcing team in boxing or MMA. They tend to be very straightforward and honest with their assessments of up-and-coming fighters, and that’s a particularly big deal on a show like “ShoBox” with all of the hot prospects that appear on it.

  13. Chris says:

    I like I saw out of Andre Ward in this fight. A stoppage would have been nice, but he’s not that kind of fighter. He just does not have enough power to stop many guys, especially someone as tough as Miranda. But he does pack enough pop to keep opponents honest. And with his skill set, that’s going to take him a long way in this division.

  14. Robert Poole says:

    Ivan – My issue with Nick is that he shows his bias very strongly without even attempting to be objective at times.

    I think they just added Gus Johnson to the Showtime Championship Boxing team and I thought he and Al Bernstein were terrific during the Taylor-Froch fight. I like Jim Lampley even if he too shows his bias from time to time, but Johnson’s energy in that Froch-Taylor fight was amazing and when Froch scored the first knockdown in the final round on Taylor, Johnson’s call made you jump out of your seat.

    Rp

  15. Chuck says:

    My biggest quibble with Nick Charles? He talks WAY too fucking much. I don’t know if he likes the sound of his too much, or he thinks viewers will get bored of the action without him talking ever milli-second or what, but he talks way too damn much.

  16. Ivan Trembow says:

    “Johnson’s energy in that Froch-Taylor fight was amazing and when Froch scored the first knockdown in the final round on Taylor, Johnson’s call made you jump out of your seat.”

    We definitely agree on that much.

Comments to Chuck

*
To prove you're a person (not a spam script), type the security word shown in the picture.
Anti-spam image