by James Slater – It’s possible, even likely, that only hardcore fight fans have heard of unbeaten middleweight contender Lajuan Simon, a 29-year-old from Philly. But the man with the 21-0-2(12) pro record is sure to be getting himself a fair amount of attention and exposure in the coming weeks. Set to challenge the superb and also unbeaten “King” Arthur Abraham for the German’s IBF middleweight crown on March 14th, Simon finds himself with a pretty much out of the blue opportunity..
The bout will take place in Abraham’s home country, and the long-reigning champion will be making his ninth defence of the IBF belt he won back in December of 2005. Does the largely unknown Simon, who will be taking one huge step up in class, have a reasonable shot at scoring the upset?
Abraham, 28-0(23) has been on fine form as of late, winning his last six bouts via stoppage. Included in these six inside schedule wins was a brutal 4th round TKO over the big-punching Edison Miranda. This fight, which was a return meeting between the two (at a catch-weight of 166 pounds), demonstrated just how much the 28-year-old German has improved as a fighter over the last two years or so.
In their previous meeting, in Sept. of 2006, Abraham had to gut it out through 12 brutal rounds with “Pantera,” and, according to some, the points margins he triumphed by were controversially reached ones. Miranda, as fans will surely recall, had a total of five points deducted for illegal use of the head, and a long time-out was called after a Miranda head-butt resulted in Abraham’s jaw being broken in the 5th round. Without these factors, the challenger said, he’d have won.
Miranda and his supporters screamed for a rematch, which Abraham granted the Colombian two years later. This time, in settling the score once and for all, “King” Arthur destroyed Miranda in just 4 rounds. The fact that he toughed it out with a broken jaw in the first fight proves what kind of stuff the German is made of; the fact that he later annihilated the man who previously had given him so much trouble proves how special the IBF champion is. It is against this peaking fighter who possess so many fine attributes that 29-year-old Simon will be going up against next month.
Looking down Simon’s record, there are no wins over anyone of note there to suggest he has what it takes to derail the champ. Wins over guys like Corey Johnson (against who Simon won the vacant USBA middleweight title), Elco Garcia and, in his last fight, Jose Spearman, 27-14-5 going in, are not sufficient to make us believe the challenger will leave Germany with the belt. Indeed, it must be said – and no disrespect is intended towards Simon – fans were expecting a more recognisable and more formidably proven foe for Abraham in his next fight.
The champion has gone on record as saying that after Simon he will look for bigger and better fights, and this is welcome news. Fight fans are eager to see Abraham square off with Kelly Pavlik, and it is to be hoped the IBF ruler had his rival middleweight champ in mind when he spoke of big fights for the near future.
Simon, who is in no way a poor fighter – even if he may well turn out to be one who finds himself in water that is just too deep come March 14th – will surely give it his all come fight time. Young enough and ambitious enough, the contender who has been described as having a workmanlike style has been active, and right now he will be training as hard as can be. But with no huge punch (just 12 KO’s to his name) and without the world class experience to match the champion’s, it looks like some hard night for the Philadelphian – even though, make of it what you will, Simon is the taller man at 6’1″ to 5’10.”
Look for the man who may well be the world’s best middleweight to improve to 29-0 next month – most likely with yet another stoppage victory.