Arthur Abraham - Wayne Elcock on December 8th

Pavlik won't bother himself with a fight against Lockett and would discard the belt if mandated to fight him . I don't reckon Warren would let Lockett face Pavlik anyway .

It looks at the moment that a fight for the vacant title would be between Lockett and Zbik but if Warren is determined enough he could get someone else(easier) .

 

Strum would be nice.

 

Laurence Murphy knocked him out, and he is in fact a big puncher.

Don't judge Wayne on that showing as he is actually not a bad fighter. He has got decent wins against Anthony Farnell and Howard Eastman.

 

You are unfairly harsh on Abraham,Luigi!

Abraham has already faced lots of known names in his short pro career.He is no Zsolt Erdei.
And by the way apart from Taylor Kelly Pavlik cant hold a candle to Abraham in terms of known and defeated skalps.
I,too,would prefer Abraham take on a better known opponent.Nobody is really interested in watching Abraham vs Demers,or vs Elcock.
Anyway! As long as Abraham continues fighting guys like Demers I dont mind him taking an easy fight from time to time.

 

Abraham expressed interest in facing Taylor before Taylor-Pavlik took place.
His promoter said (I don't know if it's the truth) that he planned to stage a Abraham fight in the US this year but HBO's budget is busted (same reason why Klitschko isn't fighting this year anymore).

And to those "experts" who call Abraham a "joke": watch a full fight of him, not just the Miranda highlight clips, or shut up. I don't think he'd beat Pavlik (he'd have better chances against Taylor) but he's leagues above Duddy or Mora.

 

No, I´m not harsh on him, it´s the opposite, I like him and I think he´s a very good and talented fighter, but with fights against the likes of Demers, Elcock, etc. he really wastes his time. Why does his managment, Sauerland, not plan a good and competive fight, for example a rematch against Miranda, or an unification-bout against Sturm, or an unbeaten good fighter like Lorenzo, Duddy, etc., you get what I mean now?

 

I always laugh when I look at that IBF rank list. Sylvester could easily become the next mandatory, but he can´t. He´d die in the fight. This fight was offered to Asikainen but for now he rather takes on Sly again.

 

He can't because both are with the same promotional outlet and Sylvester would earn more if he fights Sturm...

Universum must realise that the best match up for Sturm would be fighting Sylvester - at least from a monetary standpoint...if you compare Griffin to Sylvester you would realise that both are about the same class but that Sturm would earn more money vs. his compatriot.

 

He's not a joke. It's just that he's long overdue for a big fight. Abraham would give Pavlik the most trouble out of any MW. I think the fight would go as follows:
Pavlik wins round one handily. The next few rounds Abraham edges out by blocking most of Pavliks shots and flurrying back himself. Pavlik continues relentlessly, and Abraham starts to noticeably wear down in round 8. Pavlik gets an 11th round TKO while slightly behind on the score cards.

Pavlik is a freak in that he pummels you with HARD shots for the entire fight and doesn't really take a rest. I can't think of another middleweight in history (maybe hagler?) who pressured opponents like Pavlik does. Abraham has a mediocre at best workrate, and relies a LOT on his turtle shell defense. He'll block a lot of Pavlik's shots, but enough will get through to wear Abraham down and finally make him quit. On the other hand, Abraham can exploit Pavlik's vulnerability to flurries and low connect rate against cover-em-up defenses.

I see at as another Pavlik-McKart, except Abraham has a bit more stamina than McKart had, and is a lot more powerful.

 

Excellent post. :good I agree with almost everything you wrote. (I don't think Abraham would quit.)

I give Abraham a 30-35% chance of beating Pavlik. A win on points is nearly impossible, because of Pavlik's MUCH higher workrate.

Abraham's "turtle shell defense" works against small opponents like Gevor but I doubt it will work against a big, strong guy who throws many hard punches.