it would be unwise for bute and his people to sleep on kelly pavlik. espn just aired the bute/brinkley fight...and bute will present all kinds of problems for kelly. but bute gets marked up in his fights as well and he had some after the brinkley fight. if kelly brings the best he has it may not be enough but it won't be a walk in the park for bute.
I've seen Bute/Brinkley twice now, and I would imagine that if KP watched it, he is probably extremely confident right now. If so, the confidence may be misplaced, but I saw 3 or 4 spots where if you took Jesse out and inserted Kelly, Bute gets stopped. In addition, There is no way in hell Brinkley lasts 9 rounds with Pav. (Unless he borrowed Rubio's track shoes!) I just do not know what to make of Bute/Brinkley. I did not see Brinkley doing anything that should have allowed him to last nine rounds with a fighter who has Bute's reputation. However, Bute did look extremely calm and confident the whole time, so maybe he was happy just putting in some rounds. Overall, the only impressive thing about the fight was the size of Brinkley's balls.
If Pavlik handles Bute's power and keeps going till Bute is out of gas he can knock him out. Pavlik has to be aggressive and land punches to back off Bute, if he's only going to stalk while getting sliced to pieces as he was against Hopkins and Martinez then this won't be different.
Have you watched his fights with Andrade, Bika, Miranda? In those 3 fights he lost 1 round, and it was the one you posted b/c he was tired.
I've seen all those fights. I've made no secret of the fact that I think Bute is probably the best in the division. But he's not invincible, and he has not beat anyone Pavlik would not beat too. In fact, they have 3 common opponents, and in every case Pavlik beat a younger, fresher, better opponent.
All pavlik needs is to be is in shape and work a little on mobility, and he'd give Bute all he could handle.
Sorry but Kelly Pavlik just doesn't have the footwork to improve. This ain't Rocky III, he's not gonna beat Apollo Creed in a race.
Yea Bute was ill when he got KO'd by Andrade, just like how Pavlik had bronchitis against Hopkins.:good
no, your thinking speed and agility here. that is totally different than footwork. see gamboa...all the speed and agility in the world and b/c he has terrible footwork he finds himself out of position and being put down by balance shots. kelly can improve his footwork. he can learn to take a step back when these southpaws dive in like martinez was doing. he can then learn to take a step forward and counter. he can learn to do more than stalk guys around the ring, etc.
i think pavlik is screwed.he did good at 160 when he was bigger then most guys.hes not gone out size guyss at 168 so im not sure who he can beat at that weight.