Who Is The Best Middleweight? Miranda, Taylor, Wright, Abraham or Sturm?
By Federico Murillo: With Jermain Taylor holding the WBC and WBO middleweight titles, along with a bronze medal in the 2000 Olympics, it would seem apparent to many that he is the best among the top middleweights in the division. However, he has looked less than unbeatable since turning professional, struggling to beat an old Bernard Hopkins, and getting fought to a standstill by Winky Wright. However, the other top middleweights, Edison Miranda, Winky Wright, Arthur Abraham and Felix Sturm, all appear to be of equal talent, and may even be arguably better than Taylor. Though one thing is certain, none of them are without faults, as evidenced by their uneven performances during their careers. However, each of them appear to be steadily improving with each fight, and working on their problem areas.
Here’s a look at what I consider the top middleweights in the division and how I have them ranked, in terms of skills:
1.) Edison Miranda: (27-1, 24 KO’s) Without a doubt, the biggest puncher in the middleweight division, Miranda, originally from Columbia, is the most dangerous of the top five middleweights. With crushing power in either hand, Miranda has knocked out 24 of 28 opponents, many of them in the first round. His lone loss, a 12-round controversial decision to German-based fighter, Arthur Abraham, in reality, should have been scored a knockout win for him, in my opinion.
At the least, he won by decision. God knows, Miranda won every round of the fight, except for the 9th round. However, he had whopping 5 points deducted during the fight, due to low blows and the one head butt, thus making the fight closer than it should have been. There are is talk of a rematch with Abraham, who is currently still recovering from the broken jaw he received as a result of his Miranda’s thunderous punches.
If Abraham is able to successfully recover, then the bout will likely take place in 2007, perhaps late in the year, after Abraham has had a tune-up fight. This time, though, the fight will likely be fought in a neutral country, rather than in Germany, where the first fight occurred. Expect the fight to be violent, with Abraham being hit hard often, hence we’re likely to see another broken jaw or broken nose, if not a knockout of the Armenian fighter.
In many ways, this fight reminds me of the first Marvin Hagler/Vito Antuofermo, which Vito was beaten black and blue by Hagler, yet the decision was ruled a draw, which allowed Vito to keep his title. However, in the rematch, Hagler left no doubts, badly battering Antuofermo around the ring, causing the fight to be stopped in the 5th round. At this point, Miranda’s huge power gives him the edge over the other top middleweights. He isn’t, however, even remotely close to any of them in terms of boxing skills, but with his kind of power, it matters little, for even when he lands a glancing blow, it’s enough to stun his opponents. In his last bout, he stopped Willie Gibbs in the first round, after landing a punishing right hand to the side of his head.
In recent fights, Taylor has beaten Bernard Hopkins, twice, fought to a close draw with Winky Wright and instead of fighting a rematch with Wright, whom reportedly didn’t want the fight because he wasn’t getting enough money, he fought Kassim Ouma, and won a decisive 12-round decision. Now, suddenly, Taylor is awash with fight options, with fighters, such as, Joe Calzaghe, Bernard Hopkins, and Winky Wright, being the most mentioned future opponents for Taylor.
Most likely, Wright will get the nod as the opponent, if nothing else because there is still unfinished business between the two, being that their first fight was so close. Nonetheless, from a fan’s perspective, I didn’t consider the fight all that interesting, largely because Wright fought in his usual boring style, one in which he jabbed constantly, and was only able to get into the fight after Taylor’s right eye was closed in the 8th round, thanks to Wright’s steady diet of jabs. It’s good boxing, I know, but boring as heck to watch.
3.) Winky Wright: (51-3-1, 25 KO’s) Boxing fans and experts alike, are bitterly divided on their views of Wright, who up until 2004, was largely ignored by the boxing public. However, after winning a 12-round decision over Shane Mosley in 2004, Wright was suddenly thrust into the limelight for the first time, making him a star at the relatively ripe age of 33. Since then, he’s once again beaten Mosley by decision, followed by an easy one-sided, 12-round decision over Felix Trinidad, whom was so badly beaten, he completely lost his composure in the later rounds of the fight. (*Note: after being defeated by Wright, Trinidad would later tearfully announce his retirement in his dressing room.)
Subsequently, Wright would defeat the tough, non-stop punching machine, Sam Soliman, winning a harder than expected 12-round decision, in December, 2005. Seven months later, in June 2006, Wright fought to a disputable 12-round draw with WBC/WBO middleweight champion Jermain Taylor. Afterwards, ring experts were polled and chose Wright as the winner of the fight, as did fans, with whom were polled on several boxing sites on the internet. Trying bitterly to forget what he felt was a bad ruling, Wright returned to the ring in December 2006, winning an easy 12-round decision over Ike Quartey. At 35-years old, Wright still looks and fights much younger than his age would indicate, and if anything, he appears to be still improving in recent years. With his solid boxing skills, which include an excellent jab, southpaw stance, good foot work, and the ability to pick off punches, he matches up well with any of the top middleweights, making him tough to beat.
4.) Arthur Abraham: (22-0, 17 KO’s) The current IBF middleweight champion, and the recent winner in what could arguably be called the fight of the year, Abraham, 26, is perhaps the toughest of the top fighters in the middleweight division, if not the best. In his last fight, a 12-round decision over Edison Miranda, the Columbian knockout artist, Abraham fought 8 rounds with a broken jaw, after sustaining the injury in the 4th round. Instead of quitting, and thus losing his title, Abraham fought thru the pain, often absorbing huge punishment While I personally thought he lost the fight, I think Abraham did a good job of fighting in spurts after sustaining the broken jaw, and keeping away from Miranda’s huge punches. No doubt, the judges were swayed by his infrequent attacks, perhaps seeing it was a mark of courage.
However, for the most part, Abraham essentially stayed away from Miranda and rarely mixed it up, and during the rare occasions when he would come at Miranda, he would mostly miss with his punches. That said, Abraham had Miranda hurt in the 9th round, after tagging him with a sneaky right hand, which had the Columbian fighter on Queer street. Nevertheless, Abraham wasn’t able to follow up with a meaningful attack to try and end it. In fact, if was Miranda who turned to table and ended the round, punishing Abraham against the ropes.
Abraham is best known for having good power, and ring smarts, in which enable to him to quickly size up his opponents and make lethal attacks. Since winning the vacant IBF title over Kingsley Ikeke in December 2005, Abraham has defeated Shannon Taylor by 12-round decision in March 2006, Kofi Jantuah by 12-round decision in May 2006, and earned a controversial 12-round decision over Edison Miranda in September 2006. The IBF stepped in re-installed Miranda was the # 1 challenger, however, so due to mass confusion over the controversial decision over Miranda, thereby destroying all of Abraham’s hard work in taking Miranda’s punishment. Other than Miranda, though, Abraham matches up well with the other top middleweights, with whom would have a tough time with Abraham’s brawling, and often wrestling style of fighting. He makes it tough for any opponents, namely because he breaks the conventional rules on how boxers usually fight, by taking it to almost a cruder, primitive street level of fighting.
5.) Felix Sturm: (26-2, 12 KO’s) In perhaps one of the worst decisions ever, Sturm came out on the losing end of a 12-round loss to the great Oscar De La Hoya, in June 2004. The fight was horrible, in large part, because Sturm had dominated essentially every round of the fight, controlling the action with his excellent jab, perhaps the best in the middleweight division. However, the judges at ringside saw different, awarding Del Loa Hoya the decision by the scores of 115-113, 115-113 and 115-113. Sturm, not blessed with a large amount of power, but instead with extraordinary boxing skills, rebounded from the loss, winning his next five bouts, including the WBO title, a 12-round decision over Maselino Masoe, in March 2006.
However, in that bout, Sturm was soundly booed by the German fans, many of which were unhappy with his safety-first, defensive style of fighting, especially with the fight clearly in control in the final two rounds of the fight. Instead of recognizing and applauding Sturm for his excellence, the German fans seemed to want to turn Sturm into something that he as not, namely, a knockout puncher. Perhaps with this in mind, Sturm went into his next bout against Javier Castillejo, trying to purposely slug it out with the tough Spaniard. It didn’t work, not even from the beginning. Over and over again, Sturm would try and stand in and trade punches with Castillejo, rather than choosing to box, and make himself an easy target for the slower, and much older, 38-year old fighter.
In spite of this tactic, Sturm still held a commanding lead late in the fight. However, as if on cue, Sturm suddenly stopped boxing in the 10th round and tried to trade shots, this time getting hit with a series lf left uppercuts, which badly hurt him, causing the referee to step in and halt the bout. As such, following the fight, Sturm went back to what worked for him, forgetting about trying to please the fans, and instead focusing on pure boxing. In other words, what made him so good to begin with. In his next fight, against Gavin Topp, in December 2006, Sturm boxed him for 6 rounds, landing innumerable jabs, causing Topps face to be badly bruised. Finally, with Topp taking terrible punishment, the referee halted the bout. As it would seem, Sturm has found his way back to his old form. At this time, there are is talk of a fight with Mariano Natalio Carrera, who recently stopped Javier Castillejo in the 11th round, to win the WBA middleweight championship.
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Posted December 28th, 2006 l 98 Views
