break it down: Lucian Bute vs Kelly Pavlik @ 168lbs

Luckily the weather is hitting the 80's around here. We we were warmer than parts of Florida. Reports are Kelly is getting the weight off but I worry that those last 5 pounds will be killer. Weight loss is not an exact science and anyone can get the weight off. It is a trade off in performance though. I've said this before. Go back and look at AA's weigh in pictures the last few years of his MW run. He looks gaunt and you don't see him smiling. Now compare those to the second Miranda fight. He looks fit and has a big smile on his face. I'm starting to see the same thing in Kelly at weigh ins.

 

He should move up then, like Abraham did.

 

For now I think Bute would win, but part of it is I just don't know how well Pavlik will handle a southpaw. A lot of questions should be answered after the Martinez fight. Bute can do everything Martinez can do, only he's a lot bigger and stronger and generally has a higher workrate.

 

Yeah. "Z" goes up a weight class to have that happen and he is a marquee win for Bute and people scoff at him when he was Pavlik's victim in his proper weight class... How can this be?

 

It just so happens that the Zuniga fight showed Bute using his hook to the body once again. From the very start of his career, it's been by far his best weapon and he didn't use it in the Andradre I fight, just like he didn't really use it either against Bika, Berrio and one or 2 other guys from that time span...

The hook to the body should ALWAYS be part of any game plans Bute wishes to implement.

 

He has announced that already. If he can't get anymore good fights at MW he will move up in his next fight. He still has titles and those bring money.

 

Zuniga was a decent win for Pavlik at 160 as well. Hell, Zuniga and Zertuche are probably STILL his 4th and 6th best wins, with Rubio (who also gets underrated around here) at #5.

Zuniga being a top 10 SMW at the time Bute beat him means he was overrated (he was there on the basis of beating Inkin in many's eyes and destroying Oganov, but it's turned out that Inkin and Oganov really just aren't very good), but it's still not a win that should be dismissed as being against a scrub either. Better than any of Froch's pre-Pascal wins, for instance, and better than most of Abraham's title defenses.

 

is that a good idea though? pav uses his power and size well at 160, thats his main advantage gone at 168, plus his trainer said he was gonna stay at 160 for good after hopkins.

 

I hear Boo bookmarking this as I type for the next time Scar shows up.

 

He said he would not do anymore weight hopping. Once he goes to 168, he stays there. In spite of what some deluded people seem to think, Hopkins did not break Kelly, steal his soul, blah, blah, blah. If he can't get Williams, to shut his mouth, or Sturm, to unify, in his next fight he has said he wants Bute. His career. His choice.

 

Sounds good. We'll see.

 

With Arum supposedly finally making Chavez vs. Duddy in the summer, I suspect he'll try to get Kelly to fight the winner. Easy fight for decent money.

 

Well, I have always admitted there is a disconnect between Team Pavlik and Arum. Jack/Kelly are talking the names I laid out.

 

The only thing in Andrade that bothered Bute was that he continues do pressure you even when you give him your best shots. Pavlik is not like that. He goes back when he receives a power shot. He goes forward immediately after but he goes back first.