Edison Miranda Disqualified on Low Blows Against Yordanis Despaigne

Colombian banger Edison Miranda was disqualified in the opening bout of tonight's Friday Night Fights at the Cosmopolitan in Las Vegas for repeated low blows, giving Yordanis Despaigne the most notable win of his career.

Despaigne (9-1, 4 KO) was firmly in control of the fight, easily outboxing Miranda (34-6, 29 KO) for the most part and seeming to do more damage than Miranda, too. At the end of the first round, Despaigne hurt Miranda with a series of punches, and unloaded on a purposely defenseless Miranda in the fourth round, too.

But the trouble started after the second round. Despaigne flopped after a barely low blow, causing referee Vic Drakulich to deduct a point from Miranda. It happened again in the third round, when Miranda went obviously low and Drakulich took another point. As the two traded punches in the fifth round, Miranda strayed low again, and Drakulich jumped in immediately for the DQ.

The early thoughts from around the boxing community here and on Twitter appear to be that Drakulich basically painted himself into a corner with the deductions, but he also gave Miranda ample warning. Miranda can't really blame anyone but himself, even considering Drakulich probably did go a little overboard with the deductions, especially the terrible first deduction.

The worst part is it was developing into a good fight. I'm hoping, personally, that we see them rematch, perhaps in January when Friday Night Fights comes back, or maybe that special November show they do every year on a military base. It's not like Miranda or Despaigne are headed for big money fights, so why not?

The main event of Friday Night Fights is still to come, and we'll have round-by-round updates here.