Boxing: Is Kelly Pavlik Next After Arthur Abraham's Win Over Edison Miranda?

IBF Middleweight Champion Arthur Abraham (now 27-0 with 22 KOs) took out Columbian knockout artist Edison Miranda inside of four rounds at The Hard Rock Hotel and Casino in Hollywood, Fla., on Saturday night.

In this highly-anticipated non-title bout, Miranda took the upper hand in the early going against a seemingly uninspired Abraham.

However, the German-based Abraham began to respond with his own shots in the third before a right hand followed by a big left hook put Miranda down in a flash.

After Miranda rose, Abraham connected with a big left hook which put Miranda in dire straits. "Pantera," who barely got to his feet, was a sitting duck for the finishing onslaught of the Sauerland's Middleweight Champion and was stopped shortly afterwards.

Abraham's victory not only trumped his first, highly controversial win against Miranda back in 2006, but it put him in position for a lucrative match with American Kelly Pavlik. 

Former world champion Raul Marquez (now 41-3 with 29 KOs) gets another title crack with his thrilling upset of previously unbeaten Giovanni Lorenzo (now 26-1, 18 KOs).

The Dominican Lorenzo made a crucial technical error early in the bout. He languished on the ropes, allowing Marquez to find a target and to score effectively with a strong attack to the body and head.

Although Lorenzo was still able to win the first few rounds, and even managed to buzz Marquez on one occasion in the second, his approach began to backfire in the middle rounds.

In the tenth, a frustrated Lorenzo added his head to his arsenal and was deducted a point as a result.

Lorenzo scored well in the final two rounds on Marquez, who at this point was a gory mess (which is really no surprise given his track record as a bleeder), but he was unable to reverse Marquez's dominance in the middle rounds.

Marquez took a hard-fought, unanimous decision victory. Scores across the board were 114-113.

Just before the Showtime broadcast got underway, local prospect Ed Paredes impressively stopped veteran Maximino Cuevas after the second round when the ringside physician prompted referee Jorge Alonso to call a halt.

Paredes (19-2 with 12 KO) was remarkably accurate, scoring with a plethora of shots at close range. After Cuevas (10-8-1 5 KO) was arguably saved by the bell that ended the second round, a stoppage inevitably took place.

The Hard Rock card began with the debuting Elijah McCall, son of former Heavyweight Champion Oliver McCall, getting rid of his opponent at 2:14 in the opening round. The victim, Darion Moss, gave an inspired effort before he eventually succumbed to the continuous attack of McCall when referee Jorge Alonso intervened.

Local favorite Kenny Galarza (6-0 with 6 KOs) impressed the crowd with his short, dominant performance over Hercules Barrantes (5-1-1 with 2 KOs), which reached a conclusion shortly before the end of the opening round.

Galarza’s left hook was devastating when it connected, and both of those occasions resulted in knockdowns for the Puerto Rican. The second knockdown left Barrantes practically motionless on the canvas, which prompted the referee to wave the bout off.

Norwegian female prospect Cecilia Braekhus (8-0 2 KO) scored a unanimous decision victory over Nicole Woods (4-3) to continue her unbeaten streak as well as to showcase her talents to an American audience.

Braekhus controlled the action, scoring often with right hands at long range. Although Woods responded with a spirited rally in the final round, it was too little, too late for the Brooklyn native, Scores were 59-55 (twice) and 60-54.

Undefeated Victor Cayo (16-0 10 KO) also took center stage and had little problem outpointing the determined, yet overmatched Harrison Cuello (15-7-2 11 KO) over the course of six lackluster rounds.

Things began to heat up in the second, however, as Cayo was able to hurt Cuello with a series of punches but was unable to put him away or even down.

The majority of the bout featured Cayo using his clear height advantage to keep Cuello at a distance while frequently scoring with right hands and left hooks on occasion. All three judges saw it the same at 60-54.