Had Pavlik not faced anyone with lateral movement before Hopkins?

A lot of good points made in this thread...if only there were more boxers with the movement, change of pace and sense of distance that Hopkins has...

...Pavlik will never, ever face someone as good as Hopkins at those things. He went from Taylor to Hopkins...now that is a hell of a jump when it comes to laterl movemenet, etc.

 

I know I'm off topic,but what the hell is up(or down:!: :nut ) with that avatar?:think

 

Good point about BHop and lateral movement. Ya know, the lack of talent at 160 poses a problem for any rising star. There really are no slick boxers that would have tested Pavlik, or Arthur, at 160.

 

And I keep telling people who are harsh on Pavlik that they are being unfair! This is a young and still inexperienced guy who went up 2 divisions and who was at a great stylistic disadvantage against Hopkins, and who fought a Hopkins in very fine form indeed! Instead of praising him for getting into a very difficult fight that we all wanted to see, when he could have fought some bum at MW for a lot of money instead, we are overly critical, just because he was "exposed" as limited by The Master! Well, I'll be damned, but most of the fighters in the p4p Top 30 would be exposed as limited by a fighter like Hopkins, especially when he finds such great form.

One thing's for sure, though...Pavlik will become a better fighter as a result of that fight. Short term it's a setback, but long term, it will almost certainly be well worth it. :good

 

Bute was put on his arse and almost KOed by a fighter who was and still is underrated by many - Andrade! Let's not forget that! I don't think Bute proved he was clearly the better man at all! I want a rematch, not least because Andrade deserves it! I don't want to sweep this fight under the carpet and pretend that Bute can move on just like that, as if everything was ****** dorey. I want all of us, Bute fans, to remember that...to give us an incentive to keep pushing for that rematch, asap. Screw Larsen and the underhanded, blackmailing dealings that Sauerland have made with Interbox. Bute and Interbox should pay Larsen off and rematch Andrade next as a voluntary defence. This is what I think. This is what is good for boxing. Bute can fight Larsen some other time...

 

As you said..blackmailing..they probably can't pay him off there go the fighting him next thing.It should have been done in may but the injury time happened.The rematch should happen after followed probabaly by a mando.No Kessler fight in 09 prolly

 

Of course not. Taylor used some movement, but was not consistent and doesn't have the Hopkins smarts.

 

Latest I heard from Interbox and Bute is that they're thinking to fight Andrade as the mandatory, this time next year, if he wins the No.1 challenger position again. Well...thanks very much, Interbox and Bute...how generous of you to fight Andrade when he is your mandatory!!!:blood

Only thing that I would find acceptable is if they did it as a voluntary defence. I cannot see Bute fight three times by this time next year, can you? He seems to want to fight only twice a year from now on...says it's too tireing physically and mentally otherwise...

Larsen in February, Andrade in mid-June, and the mandatory in late October...sounds possible, but I doubt we'll see that. Personally I think all pros should fight three times a year if they're not injured...when they're in their prime, like Bute is...

 

Nope,if he is healthy he will fight 3 times a year.He would have this year but the injury time came so it cancelled the may fight.Next year is a 3 fight year again if he is healthy.Larsen,Andrade plus somebody else.Btw he came today in Romania and said he would fight Andrade again and beat him more convincingly

 

:good

Back to the thread!

Pavlik...well, there's no one at MW even close to causing him the same kind of problems that Hopkins did...so he should be allright. At SMW, where he will eventually climb, it's almost the same story.

There are plenty of good/very good fighters lining up to get a shot at Hopkins, even though they all know that he's such a tricky opponent. Kessler wants to fight him, heck! even Bika wants to fight him!! No one cares about the "L" that would likely come with such a fight...they just want to face the Master and learn from him...

...Pavlik, whatever we might think now about it, is really lucky to have fought Hopkins...it's going to be a long time before we'll get another fighter quite as good as him from 160-175.

 

Thats why he can rule 160 ..Pavlik does need to bend his knees a little ..I mean could controll a boxer with reach ..The problem is that his corner doesn't know how to utilize it outside a double jab !

 

Hopkins developed his craft. It didn't come naturally. He worked his butt off mentally and physically to become the great fighter he did...he wasn't as good as he is now when he was of Pavlik's age, or when he had Pavlik's number of fights under his belt...he studied hard, he practiced hard, he trained hard...for many years, with almost unequalled dedication.

...All these under 30-ish fighters who don't look so hot right now will become better fighters in 3-4-5 years...they're still learning and getting better every fight right now...quite a bit until they reach their peak! Look at Calzaghe! He reached his performance peak against Kessler, at 35!

 

I think it's fair to say Hopkins wasn't the only one shocked with the good advice and gameplan, or lack of it, more to the point, that his corner had prepared for him...

:yikes

 

You gotta pump that double jab ...