I hope not. He is not impressive on this comeback fight . . . but I do hope he continue to fight and recover some lost glory.
Right. It was only one fight, after a fairly lengthy layoff, against someone with a really obnoxious gameplan. There isn't too much to be gleaned either way, except that a) he's certainly not ready to jump in with the elites right now (if ever here on out) and b) he at least didn't lose, so he isn't shot to ****/completely useless. There's a big, murky grey area in there.
That I can agree with, and it didn't help that Lopez was a huge question mark. No one really knew what to expect from him so it's that much harder to gauge Pavlik's performance. I'd like to see him take an interim fight before stepping up to the top level of 168, like I said elsewhere the Pryor Jr/Vera class would be a good match up.
They are all faster than he is, have beaten better Comp at the weight, and know how to slip a punch. The last 2 guys he fought with those attributes kicked his ass. And who out of that list would you pick Pavlik to be competitive against?
I heard he's calling out guys from the super six. I personally can't see him competing with any of them. Froch outclasses him, Abraham stops him, Ward makes him look non existent(ghost?), Kessler outclasses him and Dirrell outclasses him. I don't even think he could beat Glencoffee.
I think Pavlik would do best against Ward. Kelly whipped Miranda a lot more convincingly than did Ward. Ward and Kelly are both hard-nosed, tough, strong punchers who come to fight. Kelly needs to get back to his Bernard Taylor level of confidence, fitness and strength to compete with any top super-middle. Ward, Pavlik could be a great back and forth battle between two guys who come to fight. Both guys have hard heads and strong chins. I don't want to see Kelly chase Dirrell around the ring in yet another gutless performance by Andre.
That's interesting. :think I actually favor Pavlik by KO over Dirrell but think Ward is one of the worst possible match-ups for him and almost an automatic take-it-to-the-bank UD loss.
Kelly is loyal, But he needs to make a change in his camp either hire a "New" head trainer & somehow keep Lowe involved in a some sort of capacity or give him the axe. IMO, Kelly needs to move out WEST & train in a style that will best suit his attributes. (Change his name to "El Fantasma" & train in the Cali gyms)
Well, the little I've seen of Ward shows me a guy who will engage another fighter wherever the fight should go and will take a punch to get a better counter-shot off. He is too proud to just run and pile up points hoping for a decision win like Dirrell is prone to do. That Froch fight still gets me. Dirrell had that fight but just kept bitching out of opportunities to seal the victory. Ward will probably beat Kelly at this stage but I see a great battle between two heavy-handed, iron-jawed warriors.
To be fair, Pavlik was getting his timing back towards the end and started to put it on that dude. He needs more fights before he looks to the top fighters. He would definitely learn some slickness and moves out here in the West Coast.
maybe bhop really smashed his heart out. Kelly looked old and tired last weekend. (though that left hook kept on hitting)
That was one encouraging thing. Kelly made a concentrated effort to blend the left hook evenly into his arsenal.
In order to look at Kelly's situation with anything resembling logic we have to go all the way back to the loss to Hopkins. Whether the haters like it or not, KP fought with a serious elbow injury and a case of Brochitis that would have kept most people home in bed. Consequetnly he suffered a devastating loss. A mere four months later KP got back in the ring and demolished his number one mandatory challenger Marco Antnonio Rubio. The same Rubio who just derailed one of the hottest prospects in boxing. Pavlik was unable to follow up on the Rubio demolition because he contracted a staph infection (MRSA) in his left hand. Staph, especialy MRSA, is extremely difficult to get rid of. The recurring infection damaged some tendons in his left hand, and he ended up having two seperate surgeries. He also had an allergic reaction to one of the antibiotics they had him on. He went into anaphalactic shock, and almost died. Eventually he fought Miguel Espino on 4 weeks notice because the WBC ordered him to either fight, or surrender his title. Shortly before the Martinez fight KP entered alcohol treatment for the first time. He got out just ten days before the fight weighing 185 pounds. Somehow he managed to make weight, and even under these circumstances he did Better against Martinez then Dzinzurik, and better than Williams in Martinez/Williams II. Last November Pavlik entered alcohol treatment for the second time, and remained there for 60 days. As soon as he got out he went back to the gym, and started looking for a come back opponent. In my opinion it's borderline miraculous that Pav was ready to return to the ring when he did. He not only returned to the ring, he also won a clear victory over an undefeated light heavyweight with a 76% KO ratio. Kelly Pavlik is far from "done." Mark my words: We haven't seen the last of, or the best of KP
Well the blueprint IS out on Pavlik after all. I think a focused Andre Dirrell actually stops Pavlik. The key word is "focused" though. He is a lot stronger than people realize, when he's determined. Pre-round 11 theatrics in the Abraham fight serve as clear evidence of what he's capable of. I could see Bute, Ward, Dirrell, and maybe even Froch using the Hopkins blueprint with great success against Pavlik. We still need to give him another fight before writing him off though.