Bute wants Pavlik. (Pavlik/Ward falls through. ESPN CONFIRMED)

No way the fight is in Canada. I'm not going to sit here and claim Kelly has leverage in negotiations considering how he's conducted himself over the past few years but looking like a deer in headlights while Froch leaves you for dead doesn't give Bute the leverage to demand the fight be in Canada. Co-main event type deal maybe somewhere not Canada and not AC

 

Im a Pavlik fan, however I dont think he would beat Ward. Kelly
could, but Ward has too much in his arsenal. I was excited though,
would have dropped dough on Pavlik to chest Wards chin. I think
Kelly can KO Bute, then maybe be ready for Ward. Interesting.

 

I like this fight so much better than Pavlik/Ward or, for that matter, Bute/Froch II.

Great fight at this point for both men. Lots of questions entering the fight, and what should be an entertaining clash of styles. Hope it happens.

 

Much better fight, in my humble opinion. Pavlik - Ward was a bit meh.

 

Ward needs surgery - so Pavlik vs Bute and Froch vs Kessler should be on......

 

Pavlik is not in the position to dictat venues and isnt it time for him to travel also................

 

Exactly:deal ^^

 

I wonder if Showtime will exercise their option on this fight.

Be a little risky due to Kelly's past, but if Interbox had a solid backup plan, like Don George or Renan St Juste, Showtime might bite and we might actually get to see this fight.

Surely Bute will get the bigger purse, but coming off the L to Froch and without the major title on the line, the purse split should be closer to 60/40 maybe.

Funny how just a little over a yr ago KP thought 1.35 mil was peanuts. I wonder if he was gonna get 250K for Ward. Highly unlikely:yep

 

I agree with you. My point was neither are which is why I said not Canada and not AC or did you not catch that?

 

I mean this seriously since I'm not one to immediately go to the booze jokes about Kelly but he probably was drunk when he said that was peanuts. Like on a bender drunk

 

15,000++ and a superfight atmosphere in Montreal beats 3,000 at a scaled down Boardwalk Hall. Plus, if it goes to the judges I'm guessing Kelly wasn't as effective as he needed to be to get the win.

Big stage, bigger purse, fighting a big name with a shaky chin, if I were Kelly I would be in Montreal now having eggnog with Bute and the good folks at Interbox trying to close the deal.

 

Some American are funny. They want somewhere "neutral". Not in Canada (a country with more land to cover than the US) and not in AC (but anywhere else in the US is just find).

 

Grachev's fight was a comeback fight for Bute. He was still shaken, until the end of the fight, where he seemed to have recovered his confidence. Is it enough? Pavlik is sure an excellent test to know that. If Bute's confidence is not there, he gets ko'd for sure against Pavlik.


Kelly on the other hand has been inactive for so long that anything he did against great opponents may not be valid for now. You may say he improved his game under Garcia but we haven't seen that in a fight against a good opponent. I could write a very long list of fighters supposedly improved in terms of boxing skills but still losing badly the day after.

That's a very good match up because we don't know what will happen. Let's make it!

 

Bute has not had a Canadian ref in Montreal since Andrade 1 and that was not an IBF demand. Half of the officials are always American. Is half not enough for you? Does Pavlik need all American officials to win?