Pavlik sets June 7 bout with Lockett

[Guest]

http://www.latimes.com/sports/boxing/la ... &cset=true

[Guest]

He's trained by Calzaghe's father.
Hopefully this sets up a Pavlik vs Calzaghe match.

[krazylegz]

pavlik by tko in the 6th rd.....

[Guest]

Pavlik-2000
Locket +1000

Wow

[Guest]

One week from today.
A win will set up a show with Calzaghe.
I expect an early KO.

[swerb]

Arum said in the new Ring Magazine that they want Arthur Abraham after this one if he survives Miranda.

[Guest]

That works too.
To me it makes more sense for Pavlik vs Calzaghe first. He doesn't have many fights left in him they say.

[swerb]

My guess is that Arum won't let Kelly do that ... pad his pockets one more time before he goes there. Kelly deserves it. Plus, its not like Abraham is a chump like Lockett.

[Guest]

Very true.
Here's the problem I see though:
Who else would Calzaghe fight other than Kelly? What if he was to lose? That fight would lose it's luster if for some reason Calzaghe was beaten by whoever.
Either way, Pavlik should be able to pick his opponent.

[swerb]

Very true.
Here's the problem I see though:
Who else would Calzaghe fight other than Kelly? What if he was to lose? That fight would lose it's luster if for some reason Calzaghe was beaten by whoever.
Either way, Pavlik should be able to pick his opponent.

Way I see it, Calzaghe is gonna take in one more easy (and very lucrative) fight before considering Pavlik next spring.

Either Roy Jones or Tarver. Both will get him another nice payday, and he'll be able to beat either without getting his face punched in, like he did against Hopkins.

After that, Calzaghe will have no excuses left.

Show some balls and fight the big punching Pavlik, or puss out and fight one more meatball and retire 48-0.

Either way, looks like hes got 2 more fights in him from what hes said. Hes adamant about not talking like Holyfield in 10 years.

Beating a 31-0 Pavlik and riding into the sunset would cement his place amongst boxing legends at 168/175.

[Guest]

I actually see risk in fighting both of those guys.
The Jones Jr. fight will never happen because of (what else) money.
Tarver, when focused and training is pretty tough.
Calzaghe should win either one of those fights but it's a lose/lose for him if he fights those guys.

I'd rather Pavlik beat Calzaghe this year rather then wait and hear the age excuse if it goes down middle of 2009.

[osucrazy18]

finally

[Guest]

Domination

[RattleHead]

Pretty much a clinic put on by Pavlik, albeit a short one. Lockett sure didn't look like a guy bringing a 30-1 record into the ring.

[skatingtripods]

Pavlik's punches look so effortless but are so damaging. He looked damn good tonight. He even took a couple of shots in that third round, though the fight was already decided.

I think the turning point was when he buried that first big body shot in the 2nd. That sumbitch looked like it nearly crippled Lockett and when he dropped his left arm down to that side, Pavlik just took over.

On the undercard fight, J.M. Lopez was extremely impressive. He beat the shit out of Leon. Any idea on when we might see him again on another HBO show?

[swerb]

Just keeps getting better with every fight. The two things that stood out to me tonight were his preparation, and his defense, which was excellent when Lockett was still throwing punches.

Kelly just puts so much pressure on opposing fighters. Hands are like sledgehammers. He constantly throwing, both hands, and from so many different angles. And he hits so god damn hard. Lockett's face ... my god. He absolutely destroyed it. In like 7 minutes of action.

No way in hell Calzaghe is going to fight this kid. Calzaghe will use the specter of a Pavlik fight to pressure Roy Jones financially into fighting him. Ultimately, Calzaghe will take that fight because he will win, not get hurt at all, and cash almost as large as he would against Pavlik.

Pavlik will fight Abraham if he beats Miranda again. If not, another mandatory challenger.

Bottom line, Joe Calzaghe needs to fight Kelly if he wants to be considered one of the all time greats. What does he care more about? That, or finishing his career unbeaten?

[swerb]

On the undercard fight, J.M. Lopez was extremely impressive. He beat the shit out of Leon. Any idea on when we might see him again on another HBO show?

I'm sure HBO is working furiously to get this kid inked for another fight or two. And it's great to see some new blood at 122 besides Vasquez and Marquez.

Don't know if he's ready for that major step up in class yet, but a fight with Rey Bautista or Cellestino Cabarello seems like a likely opener to a HBO card in Aug or Sept.

[Rusty]

Just keeps getting better with every fight. The two things that stood out to me tonight were his preparation, and his defense, which was excellent when Lockett was still throwing punches.

Kelly just puts so much pressure on opposing fighters. Hands are like sledgehammers. He constantly throwing, both hands, and from so many different angles. And he hits so god damn hard. Lockett's face ... my god. He absolutely destroyed it. In like 7 minutes of action.

No way in hell Calzaghe is going to fight this kid. Calzaghe will use the specter of a Pavlik fight to pressure Roy Jones financially into fighting him. Ultimately, Calzaghe will take that fight because he will win, not get hurt at all, and cash almost as large as he would against Pavlik.

Pavlik will fight Abraham if he beats Miranda again. If not, another mandatory challenger.

Bottom line, Joe Calzaghe needs to fight Kelly if he wants to be considered one of the all time greats. What does he care more about? That, or finishing his career unbeaten?

Nice post, Swerb. You pretty much hit the nail on the head on every point.

My only question is whether or not Abraham will actually fight Pavlik if he gets the win over Miranda. Abraham (and Sturm) appear to be protected Euro fighters, satisfied by routinely knocking out bums in Germany.

There was a recent article written about Abraham, where he claims to have his sights clearly set on a 35 year old Oscar De La Hoya, throwing an undefeated MW champ like Pavlik on the backburner. http://sergiomora.net/smf/index.php?topic=1876.0

How is it even possible that two middleweight champions from the same country, (Abraham and Sturm) have managed to avoid each other over the past 4-5 years?

[swerb]

The bottom line right now is this - no one is going to want to fight Kelly. They'll use every excuse in the book (money isn't right, mandatory challengers) to dodge Kelly. The reality of the situation is that these fighters ...

1. Know they will probably lose
2. Even if they win, they will take a beating

You already see it with Calzaghe. Front page of the PD sports today ...

"Everyone needs to understand that Joe is the #1 fighter in the world. It's his decision who he wants to fight and where he wants to fight." - Calzaghe promoter Frank Warren

Translation - We will not fight Kelly unless it's in Wales, and unless he agrees to give Joe about 80% of the purse. At least not now.

Abraham will likely look to Delahoya if he beats Miranda. Again, similar money, easier foe, and he can emerge with a pretty face.

Sturm ... who knows.

Arum said in the PD, they have a date set for a Pavlik/Calzaghe fight. Oct 18. But it's really not Kelly's choice.

Knowing that, Arum said that if Calzaghe pusses out, Pavlik will fight once in Sept, once in Dec. Sept fight could be here at the Q. Opponent will be either Mayorga or Randy Griffin. Dec fight would likely be Sturm or Abraham, depending how everything plays out.

[Guest]

This is the frustrating part of boxing, HUGE fights not happening when they should.
MMA to a certain extent has helped boxing make those fights happen sooner but it still is a pain as a fan.

DeLaHoya is still where the money is, why wouldn't these guys want to fight him? Sergio Mora called him out Saturday night for crying out loud.

[swerb]

This is the frustrating part of boxing, HUGE fights not happening when they should.
MMA to a certain extent has helped boxing make those fights happen sooner but it still is a pain as a fan.

DeLaHoya is still where the money is, why wouldn't these guys want to fight him? Sergio Mora called him out Saturday night for crying out loud.

Mayweather retiring and Judah canceling the Mosely bout really fucked Pavlik, at least in the short term here.

Two big names, two big money makers, both with open dates this summer, just looking for an opponent. Both very beatable, with little to no fight ending, face wrecking power left.

Now, every potential opponent of worth will use those two fighters as leverage, financially, against Kelly.

Pavlik is the best middleweight boxing has seen in a long time. He is likable, has an exciting style, and a quickly growing fan base.

He should be able to pick his next opponent. But he really can't, unless he wants to take millions of dollars less than his real worth.

As the Fight Dr pointed out, it shows that boxing still has a flawed system, as long as the ABC sanctioning bodies are a factor. Things have gotten a lot better, but they are still flawed.

[Guest]

You have 2 of the top 3 pound for pound fighters probably, in Pavlik and Calzaghe, and they aren't going to fight????????????
Just when you thought boxing was making it's way back.
Those other guys are decent options for Kelly but Calzaghe has said many times that he's only going to fight a few more fights.

[swerb]

You have 2 of the top 3 pound for pound fighters probably, in Pavlik and Calzaghe, and they aren't going to fight????????????
Just when you thought boxing was making it's way back.
Those other guys are decent options for Kelly but Calzaghe has said many times that he's only going to fight a few more fights.

This is more on Calzaghe as far as I'm concerned, not the sport. They are in different weight classes, so the fight can't be deemed mandatory.

You can't force him to fight Kelly. You know Kelly will fight him.

Calzaghe's gonna talk non stop about how much he wants to fight him, then have his promoter give Arum offers he knows Arum has to turn down on Kelly's behalf.

[onlyindreams]

I'm not much of a boxing fan but what struck me about this fight was how much bigger Pavlik was. Was Lockett stepping up a class or two? What is the weight range for their division? Pavlik was towering over him.

[swerb]

I'm not much of a boxing fan but what struck me about this fight was how much bigger Pavlik was. Was Lockett stepping up a class or two? What is the weight range for their division? Pavlik was towering over him.

160 lbs

IIRC, Kelly actually came in at like 158

Pavlik has that perfect tall build for a middleweight, similar to Tommy Hearns. Tall, long arms, powerful, power with both hands.

The type of frame he could add weight to as well. Looked great at the 166 catch weight in the 2nd Taylor fight. Would fight Calzaghe at 168. And Pavlik has talked in the past about potentially moving up in weight to super middle or light heavy.

Me personally, at least right now, I think he's best suited at 160. As you noted OID, he's bigger and stronger than everyone else at that weight.

[Rusty]

Joe Calzaghe has ruled out fighting America's WBC and WBO middleweight champion Kelly Pavlik this year.

The Welshman had been tipped to fight Pavlik, who eased to a third-round defeat of Calzaghe's stable-mate Gary Lockett in Atlantic City last week.

But the 36-year-old Calzaghe told the South Wales Argus: "A lot of people would love to see it.

"However, at this point, I think it's unlikely. I'm not sure if Pavlik really wants to face me at the moment."

Calzaghe, the world's best at super-middleweight and light-heavyweight, added: "He would have little to gain because I believe I would definitely beat him and, with respect to Gary Lockett, I would be a step-up too far for Pavlik."

However, after the victory over Lockett - his 30th career knockout in 34 victories - the 26-year-old Pavlik said: "Joe Calzaghe would be a great fight for me."

A showdown between power-puncher Pavlik and Calzaghe, boxing's longest-reigning world champion, would excite the sport's fans on both sides of the Atlantic.

"It would be a great fight for Joe," admitted Calzaghe's promoter Frank Warren. "But it's up to Joe, not Kelly Pavlik, whether the fight will happen."

And the dismissal of Pavlik would suggest that a deal for Calzaghe to fight American legend Roy Jones is close to being sealed.

"Talks are ongoing about me facing Roy Jones, a genuine legend of boxing and a previous four-weight world champion," said Calzaghe. "That is a fight that I think can be made.

"Pavlik's got the world at his feet at middleweight or super-middleweight and will want to build his unbeaten record, rather than stepping up at least one weight category to face me.

"It's not beyond the realms of possibility that we will face each other, but I think Jones is the right fight for me at the moment."

-----------

Yeah, thanks for looking after Kelly's boxing career, Joe!

As predicted, Calzaghe is content once again with facing another washed up 40 year old fighter. In this case, a 40 year old that has not won a meaningful fight in the last 5 years.

Joe spends the better part of a year calling out Pavlik, only to duck him when the fight is directly thrown at him. What a joke.

Meanwhile, Arthur Abraham is already looking forward to a fight with a 35 year old Oscar De La Hoya that will never happen and Sturm has a scheduled rematch with Randy Griffin. LOL.

Kesssler was afraid to even take on Miranda and squirmed out of that fight, preferring to take on another bum for a belt that nobody cares about.

Max Kellerman has to restrain himself from calling out Kelly Pavlik on national television and needs to accept the fact that none of these guys actually have the balls to get in the ring with him.

Pavlik is pretty much forced to fight bums at this point, he has no other choice.

[Guest]

We all knew Calzaghe wouldn't take the fight, it would ruin his undefeated record. RJJ will give him a tough fight.
I talked to light heavyweight champion "Bad" Chad Dawson Thursday and said Pavlik would KO Calzaghe in the 8th or 9th round.

What are you talking about with Kellerman calling out Pavlik?
Max talked about how good he was and cleaning out the division like Hagler and Hearns did back in the day.
Did you read that some other way?

[swerb]

What a joke. And how predictable.

Only good part about all this, Calzaghe will never gain the respect he so desires from American fight fans until he steps in and takes his beating from Pavlik.

The pressure will mount on him, each time he puts his tail between his legs and runs away to fight a nobody like Roy Jones.

Kelly is a victim of his own success and any boxing fan with a brain can read right through that embarassing garbage Calzaghe just spewed out in that column.

Dudes don't like to climb into the ring with undefeated, well grounded cats that hit as hard as Pavlik.

Only upside is that we're going to get to see a string of spectacular, bloody, violent knockouts as stiffs like Mayorga, Sturm, et al line up to take their paycheck (and beatings) as Kelly's mandatory challengers.

[Rusty]

What are you talking about with Kellerman calling out Pavlik?
Max talked about how good he was and cleaning out the division like Hagler and Hearns did back in the day.
Did you read that some other way?

Kellerman CLEARLY called out Pavlik.

How many more "Gary Locketts" are in your future?

Hagler cleaned out the MW division over tough, quality fighters, like Hamsho..., blah blah blah.

"Well that's not good enough!" in response to Pavlik's reluctance to call anyone out.

Repeatedly bringing up Joe Calzaghe and Arthur Abraham, two guys that apparently have zero interest in fighting him right now.

I like Max, but he lost a little credibility there.

[BernieBrown]

What are you talking about with Kellerman calling out Pavlik?
Max talked about how good he was and cleaning out the division like Hagler and Hearns did back in the day.
Did you read that some other way?

Kellerman CLEARLY called out Pavlik.

How many more "Gary Locketts" are in your future?

Hagler cleaned out the MW division over tough, quality fighters, like Hamsho..., blah blah blah.

"Well that's not good enough!" in response to Pavlik's reluctance to call anyone out.

Repeatedly bringing up Joe Calzaghe and Arthur Abraham, two guys that apparently have zero interest in fighting him right now.

I like Max, but he lost a little credibility there.

Dude have you been smoking crack? Max did'nt say anything that was derogatory to Kelly. He was simply sating that its time for Kelly to really step it up and clear out the division. Something he will need to do if he wants to become one of the elite fighters of this generation.

Max seemed more then happy with Kelly's response that he would fight anyone. In fact I won't be surprised if we start seeing Kellerman and the HBO crew rip into Joe a little now that he has seemingly backed down to fight another has been.

[peeker643]

And the dismissal of Pavlik would suggest that a deal for Calzaghe to fight American legend Roy Jones is close to being sealed.

"Talks are ongoing about me facing Roy Jones, a genuine legend of boxing and a previous four-weight world champion," said Calzaghe. "That is a fight that I think can be made".

I think Calzaghe misspelled 'won'.

The people that saw the interview with Kellerman don't believe Kellerman 'called out' Pavlik. All three commentators praised Pavlik as the new face of American boxing and want to see him get fights with the best opponents. Kellerman was just looking to see if Pavlik would press the action to fight those guys or tear up the mandatories and the rest of the division first.

Truth be told, Pavlik has earned and deserves the paydays that come with tearing through the division. Let the kid make some money and then take on the bigger boys for even more.

[Rusty]

Where in the hell did I ever say that Max said anything derogatory about Pavik?

I said that he was calling him out and challenging him to take fights with a bunch of guys that are afraid of him. I'm sure Kelly would have no problem taking on Abraham, Sturm, Kessler, or Calzaghe, but he can't put a gun to their heads and force them to fight him.

Please set down the crack pipe and stop twisting my words around.

[Guest]

Rusty,
You summed up my thoughts for me, thank you.
If Max wasn't bad mouthing Kelly in any way, why would he lose credibilty? By wanting to see Pavlik NOT fight the Gary Locketts of the world?
He wants to see great fights, the best fight the best, that's pretty damn good in my book.

Max is great.

[Rusty]

Rusty,
You summed up my thoughts for me, thank you.
If Max wasn't bad mouthing Kelly in any way, why would he lose credibilty? By wanting to see Pavlik NOT fight the Gary Locketts of the world?
He wants to see great fights, the best fight the best, that's pretty damn good in my book.

Max is great.

Like I said above Doc, I like Max, he does a good job. He was 100% correct when he challenged Pavlik to fight the best fighters out there after facing Gary Lockett.

As for his credibility, well, he did make a very questionable comment about how he feels that Pavlik "does not fully understand the position he's in as the middle weight champion". Trust me, Kelly Pavlik knows exactly where he's at, he has trained and fought his entire life to get there and he has never run away from anyone.

When I said that Kellerman needs to refrain from calling out Pavlik, I was referring to his future fights. If Kelly's best opportunity is to fight Marco Antonio Rubio, while Calzaghe, Abraham, Sturm, etc continue to avoid him, then Max needs to back off and place the pressure directly on those guys.

As far as cleaning out the division goes, Pavlik has already taken out Zuniga, Zertuche, Miranda and Taylor. Future top prospect opponents like John Duddy and Andy Lee both took serious beatings earlier this year.

Unless one of the top MW or SMW in the world grows a set of balls and accepts a fight with Pavlik, I don't want to see any more finger pointing while he cleans out a rather weak MW division.

[BernieBrown]

Where in the hell did I ever say that Max said anything derogatory about Pavik?

I said that he was calling him out and challenging him to take fights with a bunch of guys that are afraid of him. I'm sure Kelly would have no problem taking on Abraham, Sturm, Kessler, or Calzaghe, but he can't put a gun to their heads and force them to fight him.

Please set down the crack pipe and stop twisting my words around.

Oh guess I miss understood you. Anyway totally agree with what you said here. If guys won't fight him then he can't be held at fault for fighting the guys who will. Won't be surprised if Joe retires after this next fight especaly if he wins. Thats why I'm really hoping that Roy digs deep and KO's his cocky ass.

I lost all respect for Joe after the B-Hop fight.

[Guest]

When Kellerman said that Kelly doesn't understand the position he's in, I think he meant on top of the boxing world.
Pavlik is so laid back you would never tell he's "Godzilla" as Max called him.
Pavlik can only do so much if Calzaghe won't fight him. He'll just go about his business and keep winning.

[Rusty]

When Kellerman said that Kelly doesn't understand the position he's in, I think he meant on top of the boxing world.

Seriously, how many boxing champions have been called the "centerpiece of American boxing" after their FIRST title defense?

That was just way over the top, if you ask me. Just let him enjoy the moment for crying out loud.

Sorry Doc, but Max Kellerman came across like a total douche bag in that post-fight interview.