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In a dirty light heavyweight matchup, South Africa’s Isaac Chilemba won the biggest fight of his career in the main event of a televised ESPN 2 card from Texas Station in Las Vegas, Nevada, on Friday, February 3, 2012, a bloody red ten round decision over seasoned veteran Edison Miranda of Columbia, which was not pretty to watch.
Miranda pretty much had things his own way for two rounds, until what was ruled an accidental clash of heads in the third round opened up a nasty cut on the corner of Miranda’s eye.
Miranda’s corner was unsuccessful in stopping the flow, but the blood was not getting in Miranda’s eye, so the bout was allowed to continue. However, Miranda lost his momentum and aggressiveness from the point of the bloody clash of heads, and allowed the taller Chilemba to get back into the fight.
The fight could have been ruled a no contest in round three, but was not. Chilemba frequently leaned with his head. Miranda held Chilemba behind the head and hit at every opportunity. Chilemba did it too. Referee Robert Byrd took a point from both men for fouling in the fifth. Chilemba fought on, covered red in Miranda’s blood.
Chilemba basically just moved side to side, got his jabs to the head in, and then moved out of range. His legs appeared better than Miranda’s for the long haul. Miranda repeatedly tried to get inside to the body, where Chilemba conveniently tied him out.
Miranda’s knockout punches were gone, and without power or speed, any hard shots attempted simply missed. Chilemba landed some good strong jabs to the head in winning the last five rounds convincingly. The early rounds were a bit closer.
Miranda, who has beaten Allan Green and has lost to Arthur Abraham, Lucian Bute, Kelly Pavlik, and Andre Ward among others, did not look good at 175 and should go back to 168 where he has more power and effectiveness.
Chilemba, who came off the canvas twice in the eighth round last year to decision Maxim Vlasov, may be maneuvering for a title shot against Tavoris Cloud, or the winner of the upcoming rematch between Bernard Hopkins and Chad Dawson.
Chilemba, fighting for the third time outside of his native South Africa, has only one world title appearance to date, a draw against IBO Super Middleweight champion Thomas Oosthuizen in 2010. Chilemba is now 19-1-1 with 9 kayos, Miranda 35-7, 30 kayos.
Result: Isaac Chilemba Win 10 Edison Miranda, Light Heavyweights
Scoring: 97-91, 96-92, 96-92 Chilemba. Both fighters were penalized for fouling.
ESPN-2 Undercard Bouts
Rances Barthelemy Win 8 Hylon Williams Jr., Lightweights (Barthelemy now 15-0)
Magomed Abdulsalamov TKO 2 Pedro Rodriguez, heavyweights (1:04, Mago 13-0)
Jesus Gutierrez Win 4 Cameron Kreal, Light Welterweights (Gutierrez now 2-0)
Roberto Jose Acevedo TKO 4 Velvet Malone, Super Middleweights (1:44)
