The Movie Mind

Starring: Arthur Abraham vs. Edison Miranda
Giovanni Lorenzo vs. Raul Marquez

I think I may have solved the issue of boxing’s fading popularity as fans flock to Mixed-Martial Arts and away from the stale pugilistic sport: build giant arenas that can allow nearly every boxing skeptic to watch a fight live. The Movie Mind has been one of those skeptics of late and started to lean more towards MMA than boxing. That all changed on Saturday night when I attended my first live boxing event at The Seminole Hard Rock Casino in Hollywood, Florida. While it may have had more to do with a new atmosphere and the adrenaline of a live fight, I certainly caught a glimpse of what keeps the hardcore fans so dedicated. 

The venue, Hard Rock Live, is a cozy arena holding about 5,500 patrons. It is a small arena that feels even smaller since the acoustics are designed more for concerts than drunken fans hurling insults at a bunch of undercard no-name fighters. I saw three undercard fights in what amounted to a pretty smooth operation by Showtime Championship Boxing. It felt like there couldn’t have been more than five minutes downtime between the fights and in between rounds there was barely enough time for the bikini-clad ring-chicks to make a short lap around the ring. The name of the game was efficiency and they did it well. The audience paid no more than casual attention to the undercards, only to boo when the fighters danced and hugged too much, and maybe grant an “ooh” or “aah” for the rare punch that landed squarely. It wasn’t until the “feature” undercard where undefeated young-gun Giovanni Lorenzo was supposed to stomp on journeyman Raul Marquez that the real allure of live-boxing struck.

Lorenzo entered with the majority of crowd support as the invincible Dominican fighter with the flashy power certainly looked the part. However, the fight began extremely dull and Marquez, the wily old vet, was able to take that to his advantage. At this point in the night the arena was almost filled and fans were getting antsy for the main event. It only took a round and a half of patty-cake to elicit a chorus of boos from the crowd. At the start of round three, Marquez decided to take the fight to the kid. He consistently beat him out of the corner at the start of the rounds, and was chasing the younger, more powerful fighter around the ring for the remainder of the fight. While there wasn’t a whole lot of true power exchanges, Marquez clearly was dictating the pace of the fight. It was at this point I truly saw the power of the crowd at a live boxing event. The crowd appreciated Marquez’ effort and attempt to make something happen and completely turned on Lorenzo by mid-fight. It was exhilarating to feel the power of a turning crowd and its ability to inspire one fighter while at the same time deflating another. Marquez went on to win the fight by decision to a proud display of affection by the crowd.

After only a 15-minute delay, the main event was set to begin. This showdown was a rematch of the first gruesome battle in which Edison “Pantera” Miranda broke the jaw of “King” Arthur Abraham. Abraham managed to fight on through the excruciating pain earning a win by judges’ decision. However, the victory did not come without the standard conspiracy theories that are all-too common in the boxing world. Miranda’s camp claims the fight should have been stopped shortly after the busted jaw occurred and ultimately led Abraham to lose over a pint of blood during the fight. Oh yeah, and there was the other small detail of the fight’s locale…it was in Abraham’s home of Germany. In fact, the highly anticipated rematch was Abraham’s first visit to the friendly confines of the USA. His reception by the overwhelmingly Latin South Florida crowd, however, was not so welcome.

It probably didn’t help matters that the “King” entered the ring to music more resembling something out of a Third-Reich training video than the pop-singing German sensation David Hasselhoff. Needless to say Miranda’s entrance to a salsa/mariachi hip-hop mix went over much better but probably had more to do with his dually-patriotic waving of both the Columbian and Puerto Rican flags. The overwhelming thought in my mind after both fighters’ entrances was of Apollo Creed and Drago’s introductions in Rocky IV. The crowd was basically announcing that if you rooted for Abraham you were a Nazi. Chants of “Pahn-te-rrah” reverberated around the small arena as the “King” somehow became the only man named Abraham to be introduced as “Aah-brah-haam”. I swear I heard the German soldiers marching in the background.

The crowd was optimistic as Miranda pressed the action early on, and they began believing that the first win by Abraham was a fluke, if not a fix. However an impartial look revealed that the first three rounds of wild punches by Miranda merely landed on the gloves of Abraham. Then came the electric fourth round and one of the most dramatic I have ever seen. Miranda continued his flurry of wild throws while Abraham finally found his range and caught Miranda with a left causing him to fall. I for one didn’t think it was a devastating blow, but then again I wasn’t the one getting hit with it. Nonetheless, Miranda got up and seemed poised, but somewhat wobbly. Soon after, Abraham found him again and clocked Miranda with another left. This time Miranda took considerably longer to get up and was lucky to get back to his feet at all. Maybe a few seconds later, Abraham finished the job and even if the ref hadn’t stopped the fight due to TKO I don’t think Miranda was getting up anyway. The three knockdowns couldn’t have been more than a minute apart yet they felt like it was a matter of seconds. The crowd went from surprise, to shock, to awe in how deftly the German bad-guy finished the fight. This time there would be no doubters as the reaction by Miranda’s faithful fans acknowledged that Abraham had earned it.

While I didn’t personally experience the overwhelming feeling of patriotism for each fighter, I certainly felt it in the crowd. I saw how easily a crowd could influence the fighters, if not the final decision. More than anything, I experienced a rush and excitement at sporting event that was unlike any other. From that, I gained a whole new appreciation for the sport of boxing. Of course, I still have yet to experience my first live MMA fight.
Submitted: 6-22-08