Some guys are really difficult to get out of there. That being said, you can’t wait 5 rounds before starting to throw punches. A good lesson from boxing history is – you’re not going to knock everyone out. Hopefully he changes his game plan a bit going forward. If not, this isn’t the last loss he’s going to have in this tournament.

On the good side, he’s an entertaining fighter who isn’t afraid to take a punch to land a punch. Those are the kind of fighters who can really attract a lot of fans.

Andre Ward predicted Dirrell to win for the exact same reasons that allowed him to dominate the fight and win (the late punch aside). And when he steps into the ring with Abraham, it’s going to be a rerun unless Abraham can learn how to adjust.

If I were King Arthur’s management, I’d be looking up Emanuel Steward’s number or someone similar. The advice he got in between rounds was ridiculous. “C’mon Arthur, hit him. Hit him in the body.”

The work of a master strategist was clearly in play for Abraham Saturday night!

One other thing. They should hire the ringside doctor as Abraham’s new cutman. Really, the guy did an outstanding job of stopping the blood flow, pinching the wound closed, and cleaning up his face. He told the actual cutman, “Stay back, you are not allowed to work on him.”

No reason there to argue with the ringside doctor… he was doing one of the finest jobs in closing the cut that I’ve seen in some time.

It was only one fight, but a lot of Abraham’s luster was lost – just like that. Hopefully he’s better prepared for the next round. We’ll see what happens.