A taste of Arum's own medicine: Maravilla should demand 158lbs Pavlik rematch!

Guess who's in the driver's seat now: it's the MW champion, Sergio "Maravilla" Martinez! But I hear (bleaherreport) yet another Top Rank boxer demands a catch-weight fight for his own benefit and I'm pissed. I have nothing against Kelly Pavlik, a great guy, but if he really demands the rematch to be held at 164lbs since he can't beat the natural LMW at his OWN weight division, I say **** him, Martinez should give Top Rank a little taste of their own medicine and demand a catchweight of 158lbs.

Only Maravilla is an absolute gentleman and I fear if these are Team Pavlik's final demands (he argues the Taylor rematch was at 164, but guess what, Taylor was also a huge MW), Martinez is too respectful to decline. But at 164 Maravilla could take unnecessary punishment even in a winning performance, as he took huge punches from a 178lbs Pavlik on fight night after making 160. Do your math: Maravilla could face a 182-185lbs cruiserweight, and no ****ing way he should agree to this nonsense!


The way I see it is very simple. If Pavlik can make 160lbs, exercise the rematch clause and demanding 158lbs should just be a counter offer from Team Martinez to show Top Rank the Champion can't be abused at the negotiating table. If he can't make MW anymore, then fight a real SMW, let's say Lucian Bute, and he could share his post-fight thoughts how does it feel to fight a naturally bigger man (I don't consider career MW Hopkins one).

There are plenty of fights out there for Maravilla if Pavlik leaves the division, hopefully he'll take on one of the elite fighters out there, either at 160 or 154. :thumbsup

 

He won't be a dick about it and that's my biggest concern. Martinez is a natural 154-er and he already fought a cruiserweight Pavlik on fight night. Under the IBF rules, Kelly Pavlik should've never entered the fight since you can't weight more than 10% more than the weight limit (176 for the MWs), and that rule is for both fighters' health. Is it only fair to give Pavlik a rematch? Yes. But Martinez should be the one to dictate it's terms, he's the Champion and he earned it.

 

Exactly. Other than health reasons - and Martinez fighting at 160 is already unhealthy but it is his choice - a big loss would be disastrous to his marketability he just recently earned. Beating Martinez might've put back Pavlik on the map after 1,5 years out of the limelight, and all Kelly did was to take on a catchweight fight and lost it bad without losing the Championship, but it still hurt his career pretty bad. Martinez at 35 doesn't have the same time to recover from such a loss, and how the hell would you favor Maravilla vs. a possible 185lbs Kelly Pavlik?