Not this again! atsch Firstly, it's interesting how nobody on this thread seems to want to comment on the number of far more illegitimate tantrums B-Hop has thrown, involving bull**** ranging from the "I beat Roy Jones" to "I controlled the pace of the Calslappy fight". B-Hop is the ultimate post-hoc whiner, so commenting on Pavlik's "sour grapes" is about as useful as a chocolate teapot. -- Regardless of the reasons for Pavlik lopsidedly losing that fight, he's not insulting B-Hop's skills. He's saying that he didn't feel like he was being outmaneuvered or outboxed, only that he was too weak and lethargic to do anything in response. It doesn't matter whether it was Hopkins' brilliance or Pavlik's poor condition that led to that result; the point is that Pavlik felt like he wasn't at his best, and he's just expressing that feeling. As he says himself: if B-Hop was so clever that he tied Pavlik up in knots, why couldn't he just do it to Jermain Taylor? Sure, styles make fights and Pavlik might not fight B-Hop the same way JT did, but there has to be some sort of transitivity about boxing. In any case, Pavlik isn't the sort of guy that would curl up in a ball and resign the fight (which he pretty much did from the middle rounds). Even if he was getting outclassed, he would have thrown something back, charged the guy or - at the very least - tried to establish a jab. Fighters can confuse you, but they can't just make you fall apart like that.
This is what happens to great fighters like PW when they step up against aggressive guys with hard chins. [youtube]vrMQJ4Z-4-c[/youtube]
He said he got his butt kicked. Even if he was sick though, I had Pavlik losing 11 to 1 with one round that could have swung either way, you could have easily had that fight 12 - 0. With a score like that, its hard to say he would have won had he not been sick, assuming you believe he was. But, its clear a lot of the Pavlik hate is thinly disguised racism.
That's why this style of fighting is hard to get one far enough in the olympics. Imitating heavybags by being wide open for punches is not what boxing is about and that's taught in the amateurs, it's all about outscoring your opponent and making them look silly by avoiding their punches and landing your own in return. With Pavlik's height/reach you would expect him to be a real candidate at the olympics yet we saw what happened.
I don't normally knock fighters; I respect anyone that gets in the ring. But I don't get pavlik. He's heavy handed, technically sound in some ways but with SOOO many fundamental flaws he may have reached his peak unless he learned a shitload from the Hopkins fight.
Don't expect any changes anytime soon, that's the way he was brought up to fight, they MIGHT add some improvements here and there but a complete change is out of question. He went far enough fighting the way he did though put him in there against a crafty/defensive fighter and he's in trouble. His one-dimensional style can be affective in breaking opponents down and he has serious punching power to help make it quicker when needed. If an opponent can handle those or can make him miss all night then he's toast. The rematch with Taylor hinted at that and the Hopkins fight confirmed it.