:boxing: Boxing Bits ::06.23.08:: King Arthur Slays the "Pantera"

Arthur Abraham just got a little closer to a fight with "The Ghost", while an old veteran just landed himself a second lease on his career...

:Fri.06.20.08:
Montell Griffin UD Corey Cummings (Light Heavyweight)

Andre Ward TKO8 Jerson Ravelo (Super Middleweight) [Showtime]
--Ward didn't look terribly good on the outset, but he improved as the fight went on and impressively took out Ravelo, who looked like he give the Olympian a rough night in the first round before turning it off completely a round or so later. He looked like a slaughtered lamb the way Ward knocked him down, leading to the fight getting called off after he beat the count and continued to get butchered. Ward will need to be in a better gear from the get-go should he get those top fights in the future.

Eddie Chambers KO6 Raphael Butler (Heavyweight) [Showtime]


:Sat.06.21.08:
[C] (Vacent WBA Super Middleweight Championship) Mikkel Kessler KO12 Dimitri Sartison

[C] (Vacant WBC Welterweight Championship) Andre Berto TKO7 Miki Rodriguez [HBO]
--Not the greatest of fights, but a good, decent scrap, anyway. Rodriguez tried to showboat and face-make his way through the fight, but Berto took it to him, and, after delivering a nice single-handed left hook and uppercut combo that lead to a knockdown, he barraged Rodriguez again before his corner threw in the towel. He's not Mayweather 2.0 (the former champion before he "retired"), but he might do well in hanging on to the belt.

Arthur Abraham KO4 Edison Miranda (Middleweight) [Showtime]
--"King Arthur" made good on his patient tactic, absorbing Miranda's pressuring punches throughout much of the first three rounds (with much blocking) before sending him to the canvas twice in the fourth, capping it off with a final ice-er of a KO soon after. The eventual match-up against middleweight king Kelly Pavlik is definitely looking intriguing now--and harder to predict. The second knockdown was especially impressive, both visually and skill-wise.

Amir Khan KO5 Michael Gomez (Lightweight)
--Khan knocked down Gomez in first, got knocked down himself in the second, and then knocked down Gomez again in the fifth to claim a stoppage victory.

Cristobal Arreola DQ3 Chazz Witherspoon (Heavyweight) [HBO]
--Two 23-0 records (Arreola possessing 21 KO wins, himself) both got sullied by one man, as a member of Witherspoon's corner got the fighter disqualified after he tried to assist him back there in the midst of a standing eight count after the fighter sustained a second knockdown at the end of the third round. Witherspoon wasn't looking too good anyway, and it seemed like Arreola was just the wrong type of opponent for him. A decent example of a "thinking/book-smart" boxer versus a constant and pressuring brawler.

Raul Marquez UD Giovanni Lorenzo (Middleweight) [Showtime]
--The thirty-plus year old Marquez took the young, undefeated Lorenzo to school and scored the unanimous upset decision. His reward? An October bout with main event winner Arthur Abraham (Marquez fought in the undercard before it).


No Dmitriy Salita-Edgar Santana fight, but this one should make up for that:

Not Previously Noted
:Sat.06.21.08: Juan Ruiz RTD Wayne McCullough (Featherweight)
--Former bantamweight champion McCullough retired on his stool at the end of the sixth round in his bout against Ruiz and announced his leave from the sport to the crowd. The problem? Though he hadn't fought in nearly three years, nor won a fight in around four, he was actually leading on two of the three fight cards. However, he said that he was too tired to go on...


EDIT [06.25.08]: Corrected record information on Arreola-Witherspoon bout, as the latter had incorrect KO data. I also added a small amount of my thoughts on the fight, having a chance to see it, as I got caught up watching Showtime's boxing broadcast.