For much of the debut main event in the ESPN2 "Friday Night Fights" season, rickety 37-year-old middleweight Roman Karmazin was not looking his best, getting wobbled as he did by Dionisio Miranda in the 3rd round and largely surviving with ring savvy against a low-skilled, one-handed but powerful fighter in his physical prime. Then in the 9th, Miranda floored Karmazin with his overhand right after setting it up with a jab, and Karmazin, who previously only had to dodge the overhand right by itself, staggered so worryingly it was surprising he made it out of the round.

But this is boxing.

And while sometimes that means a bunch of stupid asses can't figure out a way to give the fans what they want, it's not what it meant on FNF.

What it meant for Karmazin was the other thing: It's a sport where you can hit a seven run home run or score a 24 point touchdown.

That's what he did in the 10th, delivering Miranda to the canvas with a straight right hand. Then, when Miranda got up and was staggering as worryingly as Karmazin did before, Karmazin landed another straight right hand square on Miranda's button. He wouldn't get up this time.

I giggled. Smirked. Yeah, I still love this sport.

Sometimes a fight where one or both of the fighters aren't among the elite takes away from a dramatic bout. Miranda isn't elite. He hits hard, but he's inept in the ring. Karmazin isn't. He didn't look anything like the fighter who dismantled Kassim Ouma four and a half years ago, like the fighter Oscar De La Hoya was set to fight before Oscar pulled out citing an injury and left Karmazin without the payday of a lifetime. Karmazin is old, and unlike some old fighters in these days where old fighters can thrive, he looked it -- slow, vulnerable.

But really, that made it all the more dramatic. Karmazin said he would quit if he didn't beat Miranda. His career was on the verge of coming to an end. But somewhere, somehow, he found some way to win, and he'll get one last shot at a big pay day, now that he is the mandatory title challenger to Sebastian Sylvester. It really is an amazing spectacle, this boxing, when it's done right.