I CAN'T BELIVE THE BUTE HATERS ON ESB : "Top Rank was working on a deal with Bute's promoter, InterBox, that would have given the Top Rank/Pavlik side 40 percent of the revenue from the fight. Top Rank had offered Pavlik a minimum purse of $1.35 million (plus an additional $25,000 for training expenses), which could have increased depending on how much money the fight generated."
Pavlik lost to Hopkins at LHW, and his loss to Martinez was a very close fight in which he had only one good eye. I thought Pavlik was going to get a hometown decision before they read the scorecards. I would take Pavlik to beat Martinez in a rematch, if Pavlik were completely off the alcohol.
Pavlik would get huge money to fight Felix Sturm in Germany. At SMW, he could have negotiated with Mikkel Kessler, a fight which would rake in huge cash. Also Dirrell, Stieglitz would make loads of money. Pavlik has done a lot in his career and I don't understand why people trash his record. The reason he lost to Hopkins and Martinez is that he had the courage to fight top opponents. I wish I could say for Bute, who is a cherrypicker wannabe. I hate to use those words, but at this point it's a fact. He asked for more money than Pavlik, a man won the undisputed MW championship. Bute is a paper champ.
You're talking weight classes, which is ridiculous. Quality is what matters. Sugar Ray Robinson demanded huge money from his champion opponents when he moved up in weight, despite having beaten no one at the weight class. I could list lots of other fighters. Quality is pound-for-pound. Of course, Pavlik is no Ray Robinson, but Bute is even less of a Joey Maxim.
This, I mean look at what Morales and Barrera were getting, in their prime they were getting less that 3 million, more like around 1 million and they were very entertaining. Pavlik hasnt done **** to be demanding 3 million. Bute is the draw with his canadian fans, they are the ones that will be buying the fight. Bute can go fight someone else and make big money, pavlik cant.
Pavlik has a better resume than Lucian Bute, and is more famous in America than Bute. Period. It should be a 60-40 split in favor of Pavlik.
It makes no sense for him to cancel that fight that he already trained for and was already lined up. So what if he was set to make 50k, thats more than most people make in a year, that is better than nothing now. That is a separate fight entirely from Bute. He should have made a big splash on Saturday on showtime and then either try to get more from Bute or look for someone else. He would be in a much better negotiating position coming off a KO win on showtime than pulling out of his fight.
So, he thinks that he deserves more money. I'm fine with that because he's free to pursue what he thinks is best for him. What I'm not fine with is the childish bull**** of agreeing to the deals, and then suddenly changing his mind close to fight time and pulling out out of both fights. You gotta make up your mind of how you want to approach your career and stick to that. If you don't like the Bute deal, then don't agree from the get go. If you are not ready, then fight more tuneups. If you feel that you are never gonna be ready, then retire for the time being. Team Pavlik have a history of making dumb decisions and it's not gonna get better. Good luck getting respect from the fans or networks from now on.
Pavlik can't make middleweight anymore and Sturm has no reason to move up, much less take this fight. I doubt he'd get a much better offer than the one he got from Bute for that fight. :roflatsch Paul Williams might disagree with that, especially when it comes to the Martinez fight. I think Bute's resume is overrated by his fans, but Pavlik has not been relevant for over a year.
Irrelevant. The fight could simply be moved to Atlantic City and there, it would be Pavlik drawing the fans, who would be eager to see Pavlik win a title again. And you're wrong: a big name like Pavlik has loads of big money fights anywhere he looks. Pirog would be happy to fight him in Moscow and give him more money than Bute is offering. Pavlik has big names on his resume. Only one decisive loss. Everyone knows MArtinez would lose a rematch with Pavlik. You can only get lucky once with cuts.
did i just hear a guy blame pavlik only having one eye as a result to why he lost to martinez? i don't think it was the eye that costed him i think it's the fists coming from martinez that costed him