After much thought on who I will root for Saturday night, I have decided.

If Pavlik loses he will always be haunted by this fight and his legacy will be tarnished. He lost in his prime to a 43 yr old man who Jermain Taylor beat twice. It wouldn't matter that Hops made him come up 10lbs for the fight.

Hopkins should have retired after the Tarver fight. That was the icing on the cake and his legacy fight. It's his own fault now.

 

if pavlik loses a mega fight with calzaghe (provided he beats jones) goes out the window, boxing needs pavlik to win

 

Don't think it will tarnish anything, people will still remember that Hopkins gave a great fighter in Calzaghe a tough fight before he ran into him. Pavlik also has good options to cover it up whether he loses or wins, if he wins he might get Calzaghe/Jones winner and if he loses it's Abraham at 160 in a fight everyone wants to see.

Being young he has a lot of time to cover up any loss he runs into, he's only 26.

 

No harm in losing to a 43 year old Hopkins in your fist outing at LH. Especially considering Hopkins last fight. Pavlik has time on his side. Plenty of big fights available to him in the future even if he loses this one. Legacies are built on more than one fight. Take a look from 160 -175. Very good time to be entering your peak as a fighter.

 

Good reasoning in the thread here, makes a lot of sense. I'm a Pavlik fan, and I appreciate Hopkins but I'm not a big fan of his. Part of me wants Hopkins to win because it would be a great accoplishment and Pav. is still young enough to accomplish a lot. It would be huge for Hopkins legacy to win this one, but for the good of boxing, Pavlik needs to win and win convincingly. Just imagine the fallout if Hopkins beats Pavlik, and Calzaghe beats Jones and retires. The Calzaghe huggers, (and I'm a Calz. fan), would spin this thing like crazy and the short term interest in 168-175 weights would take a big hit.

 

I have tremendous respect for Hopkins and his ability but I hate watching old guys with diminished skills fight young champions and contenders. It is for that reason that I hope Pavlik knock's Bernard out. Pavlik is to young for Hopkins and I believe Hopkins will show his age in this fight. I still can't believe this fight was made and that its on PPV.

 

gotta go with pavlik i respect b-hop as a fighter and his accomplishments in the ring. but i always root against him for throwing the puerto rican flag down theres a line you don't cross and he crossed it.GO KELLY!

 

The weight differential will make a difference. Look at Wright's performance against Hopkins - it was too much for Winky to move up.

Pavlik is taller and most likely can put on some weight more effectively than B-Hop but I think that Hopkins has an advantage going into this fight. It is his to loose. And this is coming from a Pavlik fan who wants to see Kelly win.

 

This will be a tougher fight for Pavlik than most people expect:smoke i think Pavlik will win a decision, but i would like to know why the **** is this fight on PPV??? With the economy ****ed up and People short on money this ****ing fight should be on free tv..

 

no doubt

 

Yes I hope Bernard can finish the fight.