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Andre Ward's match with Miranda in Oakland on May 16 is Bay Area's most compelling in years
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It’s hard to imagine a more stunning non-title opponent for Andre Ward than Edison Miranda, one of the deadliest punchers in boxing.
That bout will happen May 16 at Oracle Arena in Oakland, Goossen-Tutor Promotions confirmed to me Monday. Look for it to be on Showtime, with Ward’s second-tier NABF and/or NABO super middleweight belt at stake in a 12-rounder. It won’t go 12.
The bout, perhaps the Bay Area’s most attractive in a generation, will mark the first time Ward is fighting someone most of his fans have actually heard of. Miranda (32-3, 28 knockouts) was the scariest middleweight in the division until his three losses to the division’s top two, Kelly Pavlik and Arthur Abraham (twice). The two conquerors proved that going after Miranda is smarter than poking at him and trying to avoid his thunder.
And that’s exactly the opponent the 2004 Olympic gold medalist Ward (18-0, 12 knockouts) needs to make himself a more compelling candidate for a world title fight.
Ward, with a three-inch height advantage, will also be the faster man and should be able to fire his full arsenal at Miranda. It might not be so awful if the 5-foot-10, long-armed Colombian lands a good shot or two before he falls, because there’s still some skepticism to be dispelled regarding Ward’s chin.
If only Miranda had a 130-pound counterpart for Robert Guerrero to fight, because “The Ghost” needs an attractive slugfest, too. The opponent and site for Guerrero’s June 12 bout on ESPN are not firm, so let’s brainstorm.
Ward’s brainstorming had provoked him to challenge IBF super-middleweight champion Lucian Bute. Bute had outboxed challenger Librado Andrade last fall in Montreal, only to suffer a last-second knockdown that almost cost him the fight. The consensus (I disagree) was that Andrade deserved credit for a knockout.
After Bute defeated Fulgencio Zuniga in March, Ward called him out, but Andrade, now nearly as popular as Bute in Montreal, routed Vitali Tsypko there Saturday on the Timothy Bradley-Kendall Holt undercard. (Bradley, aside from suffering a spectacular first-round knockdown and also going down in the 12th, landed most of the punches in the super-lightweight title bout and won a unanimous decision.) Andrade’s performance eclipsed the main event, one of many reasons he will be fighting Bute before Ward gets his shot.
The interim fight is perfect for Ward. It gives him and his fans a chance to prove that he can inspire a happening in his hometown, which some boxing people doubt he can. If this fight draws, maybe Ward will get his fondest wish and fight in Oakland later this year, for that world title.
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