Ward will break down Edison Miranda for biggest win

By TRAVIS HARTMAN of the “Boxing Amusement Park”

Andre Ward (18-0, 12 KO), will methodically break down hard hitting Edison Miranda (32-3, 28 KO) to capture his biggest victory to date.

            Miranda has been dropped at least once in all of his big fights, some he went on to win, the Allan Green fight, and most he went on to lose and eventually was knocked out. Miranda has resorted to becoming a stepping stone for up and coming hot prospects. Arthur Abraham proved it with two victories over him and the last one by a devastating 4^th round knockout to go along with his 7^th round demolishing at the hands of Kelly Pavlik. Miranda talks a great game but when times get tough inside that squared circle he cracks under pressure.

            Ward may not be as heavy handed as the aforementioned fighters but he does possess slick boxing skills and pin point punching. Miranda’s defense has many flaws. Miranda tends to panic inside the ring and will start swinging for the fences and leave his punches wide at which point Ward will counter him and eventually break Miranda down for a late round TKO.

            Miranda’s only shot at winning is to catch Ward early with one of his looping hay makers. Ward has been down on the canvas once in his pro career already. His chin is not yet proven it can withstand the force of a top level fighter such as Miranda. Hurt Ward early and often and make it a dog fight. Ward has not been in a real tough and bruising fight. Miranda should test the young prospect early if there is any chance of winning.

            Ward has been moved along slow in his young 18 fight pro career since winning gold in the 2004 Olympics. This will be a true testament for the world to see what Ward is made of and to see if he has what it takes to compete with the Pavlik’s and Abrahams of the world. A loss here will be a major set-back for Ward, while a win could put him in the picture for the best middleweights in the world. A loss for Miranda could spell the end for anymore major fights and for anyone to take his constant trash talking serious. A loss here could put him in the company of Ricardo Mayorga. Great at intimidating pre-fight but never lives up to his brash talk and promise of knock out.

            Ward by 9^th round tko and we will slowly see Miranda get phased out of the Middleweight division.

            Fight can be seen on The New Generation live Showtime television (9 p.m. ET/PT delayed on the west coast) on May 16.