Friday Night Lights Out

Over on the deuce, they staged the year's first Friday Night Fights card worth talking about last night, and yo yo did it ever deliver big-time. Here I was thinking after the first bout that I had my lead already written for me, and that no matter what kind of spectacular knockout Edison Miranda laid down on his man, I was still going to be opening my Saturday boxing piece with a sworn testament to the fortitude and guts of a young unknown would-be Rocky out of Philly goes by the name of Omar Pittman.

But then Edison Miranda fucked my shit up.

I understand that this FNF headliner, Miranda v. David Banks of Contender fame, will be available in its entirety on ESPN 360 (you can see the highlights here). So, people, if you weren't watching, all's I can say is find this thing and watch it. It's amazing to be able to say this about a fight that occurred on January 11th, but I'm telling you it's almost impossible to imagine that Miranda's KO of Banks will not hold up come next December as the unanimous 2008 Knockout of the Year.

It's funny too, because right out of the gate, it looked like somebody had finally tamed the Pantera a little bit. For the first two rounds, he did a bad imitation of somebody who thought he knew how to box, slowly and awkwardly stalking Banks and every now and then sticking out a snapless left jab that he threw off the wrong foot. He did so little that Banks actually looked good in there, looked like he might have a shot at hanging around for a while.

Then Miranda leaped out of his corner in the third and started swinging. Clearly, his stint as hapless sweet scientist had bored the shit out him. I turned to a napping Mrs. Large and said, "I get the feeling the Panther's ready to eat." About midway through the round, Banks moved back towards the ropes and threw a short left hook. Miranda came over it with a straight right on the button that instantly pulverized Banks, a shot-by-a-gun KO of the highest order. Unconscious at impact, Banks collapsed backwards and through the ropes, where he hung lifeless for a moment sprawled across the second rope while ringside samaritans tried to keep him from smacking his head.

The first thing that came to my mind was Joe Louis after he was bombed through the ropes by Marciano, but no, this was much much worse, a single terror-inspiring right that left me shaking my head in awe at Miranda's power. I think back to the number of jaw-rattling shots that Kelly Pavlik took from this monster and I think, Kelly Pavlik is one rugged son of a bitch. If Pavlik didn't have a chin of solid granite I have to imagine there's a good chance Edison Miranda would be the middleweight champion of the world right now.

All right, there's nothing else to say about that KO really - miss it at your peril. I'll now move on to the first fight, Jean Pascal v. Omar Pittman, and let me give this section the sub-headline it deserves - OMAR DON'T SCARE. Everybody who follows this game knows how a young star's record gets padded with no-name club fighters and tomato-cans who are paid to take a beating. There's nothing more unpleasant to me as a boxing fan to sit through these ritual slayings, and believe me, I've sat through a shitload of them. That said... and it doesn't happen often that's for sure, but when it does happen... there is nothing quite as fulfilling as when one of those prisoners on his way to a sure beheading turns the tables and puts the preordained victor on the guillotine. Omar Pittman, a ballsy 168 from Philly (all love to Philly fighters), a 25-year-old journeyman in the making, did just that last night to an over-rated loudmouth flash-in-the-pan from Canada, Jean Pascal (pictured above left). After six and a half rounds of the Canadian's flash and dash, Pittman caught Pascal with a leaping left hook and made him do the dance. Over the next three rounds, he repeated this procedure at least two more times, and what had been a rout turned into a thriller. Could the brave upstart get the pretty boy out of there before the final bell?

Sadly, he couldn't. He ran out of gas and lost it on points. Nevertheless, for Omar Pittman it was a true victory in defeat, whereas for Pascal it was vice versa. As Teddy Atlas pointed out, in his last fight Pittman squeaked out a split decision against another nobody with a 17-13 record. Now Pascal, who's been self-hyping a big bout with Miranda, had to go the distance to beat Pittman and nearly got KO'ed himself in doing it. By the time the Miranda fight was over, Pascal had recovered enough of his pride to sit ringside with Joe and Teddy and bark insults at Miranda in the ring, challenging him to a throwdown then and there. He's undoubtedly lucky that Miranda didn't take him up on that, and myself, I have no doubts that whenever and wherever the two meet up in the end, Jean Pascal will prove little more than a one-hundred sixty-eight pound Panther snack.