Which fight made you a hardcore fan of a certain fighter?

I take Arthur Abraham - it was the first Edison Miranda fight. I liked what I saw of Arthur before, but watching Miranda-Eastman, I was like 'wow, this dude is like and old school puncher and gonna do a number on Abraham', and put some hard cash on Pantera by stoppage, which of course I almost got. 45 minutes and about 2 litres of spilled blood later, I was a hardcore AA fan and couldn't care about my financial shortcoming. To see the kind of determination to fight through with that severly damaged and grotesque looking jaw, spitting blood all over the place, watching the incompetent ref and corner failing to stop the fight (which lead to a police investigation), I was both shocked and amazed. I actually had Abraham winning an even fight with the legit point deductions, and boy AA delivered in the rematch!

Part of an interview looking back at the horror fight:

After the first fight with Miranda you became very popular, because of the injury

Everyone could see that my jaw was broken. It did hurt. But to stop - that's not my attitude. I didn't want to lose! I can not lose! And one thing I must tell you: My head was absolutely there. I had an injury, but my head was there. I've seen everything, I felt everything, my mind was clear. I had everything under control. I was smart, I ran away and took advantage of Miranda's mistakes.

Later you said: "Each of his punches hit me like a bomb"

Sure, the jaw had no more stability. It shook through the entire body, even if the blows were not very hard.

You're crazy, right? You have two titanium plates and 22 screws in your jaw now...

It doesn't bother me. So I was in the locker room after the fight, and they said: "Lie down here to me". I did as someone came there with a syringe. I asked "What are you doing"? "Nothing, nothing, nothing." And then I slowly fell asleep, but in the ambulance I heard my fans shouting "Arthur! Arthur! Arthur!" I woke up in the hospital the next day. "What happened?" I was wondering. "They operated on you", they answered. Everyone was sad, my manager, my coach, my dad, all very sad. They were down more than I was, so I encouraged them: "Hey guys, whats up with you? Be happy! It'd only be bad if I had my jaw broken AND lost to this ******. I'm the Champion!"




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