Can Pavlik beat the top guys at 168?

not top guys in my opinion, abraham and johnson 50/50, bika no.

 

:rofl:rofl:rofl holy **** do people sell Pavlik short here

 

Bika is underrated, he drew against ward in my opinon.

 

No, the scorecards were way to broad but no way did Bika deserve a draw.

 

i think he could stand his ground and outdo some of the less technical fighters at 168, assuming he still has stamina and durability for that weight. he could just be damaged goods. hopefully we get some answers next week.

 

Pavlik could be a "big" 168lber....the problem is there's a bunch of big 168lbers. He certainly won't enjoy those kind of physical advantages at 168 as he did at 160.

Looking back on the heights of previous middleweights he fought(per boxrec)

Martinez- 5'10
Miguel Espino- 5'11
Marco Antonio Rubio-5'10
Lockett-5'8
Jermain Taylor- 6'1
Edison Miranda-5'10
Zertuche- 5'8

Keeping in mind Pavlik is about 6'2 or 6'3 with long arms those were some significant advantages at that weight. But at 168 theres

Lucian Bute-6'1 1/2
Librado Andrade- 6'2
Andre Dirrell- 6'2
Andre Ward- 6'1
Mikkel Kessler- 6'1
Carl Froch-6'1

Basically, he'll be slightly taller than everyone but won't be enjoying the 5-7 inch advantage in height he had at middleweight.

Can't wait to see any of those potential matchups.

Edit: Ironically, at LHW theres a few of the shorter, stocky guys there: Cloud, Pascal, and Erdei are each only about 5'10

 

Wait and see is my opinion. I think/hope he will be better at the weight since he won't be draining.

 

I realize Pavlik has been out of action for awhile, but damn, boxing fans have really short memories. Froch, Ward, Abraham, Dirrell, and Bute all made their names fighting Pavlik's left overs, or fighters who were not as good as Pavlik's left overs. That is a historical fact.

I think we have to see what happens on May 7th in order to make an educated guess. Pavlik wants either Froch or a catchweight rematch with Martinez. However, depending on how things go on the 7th, Team Pavlik may choose to fight a little more difficult tune-up before going after another title, and Pavlik will go after another title.

 

like herm said, wait and see. if kelly is the beast he was rolling through zertuche miranda and taylor, he will beat froch and kessler. i fail to see what either man has done lately that would lead anyone to believe that a live pavlik wouldnt be able to handle. kessler is looping all his shots lately and froch has been hurt by taylor, dirrell and kessler. the way froch was diving in against kessler (hurt by that very short right of mikkel's), kelly would handle him.

it all depends on what version of kelly we have.

 

Kessler and Froch are more than 2 leagues above zertuche and miranda and both would beat Taylor too ( Froch already did)

Pavlik has neither the skills, speed, punch or the chin to brawl with Kessler or Froch.

i would favor Bute, Ward, Direll, Froch, Johnson, Kessler and Bika against
Pavlik.

50:50 Vs Abraham, Andrade, Brian Magee

slightly favorit vs Stieglitz and Sartison

 

Froch would brutalise any version of Pavlik,fact.

 

I don't think Pavlik has what it takes to beat the best guys at 168. Abraham tried to move up and fight the best and he came short as well.

This said: I would still love to see an Abraham vs. Pavlik fight at 168. Both of them have already lost 2 times and it's likely that Abraham will lose again soon to Ward. So now that their 0's are gone, there is no need to be protective anymore. Bring on the fight

 

If Pavlik fights Dirrell and ends his career I'll be eternally grateful.

 

Boo has been trying to you guys that for ages. :rofl

Pavlik won't be as short. :deal