Can Pavlik beat the top guys at 168?

Cuz you've seen lopez fight so many times right? Pavlik fought very smart. Took his time, picked his spots, very litte wasted energy. Kelly just beat an undefeated contender who was the biggest man ever fought. And he did it after not fighting for 13 months, coming off a loss, and going through alcohol rehab.

 

I think he would have to change alot, especially his trainer to even be competitive with the top 3 at 168.

 

I am extremely disappointed in Kelly after seeing his latest "performance".

His timing is completely off, but not only that, he has clearly lost power and is not the same fighter he was.

I remain very unconvinced that he is the fighter he was. I will be able to judge after his next fight conclusively, because this could be down in part to rust.

 

Lopez went from 'dance around because everybody knows Pavlik can't deal with movers' to 'if I hug him he can't hit me anymore' pretty quickly.

 

The ref should have at least warned Lopez about constantly grabbing KP's left arm.

I think Pav did have some trouble with Lopez's size and strength. The kid is really a light heavyweight.

I did like the patience Pavlik showed, but in at least two spots he was too patient. He probably could have had Lopez out of there if he had followed up quicker on the left hook that hurt Lopez and put him on the ropes.

 

You're lying to yourself man atsch

 

that left was there all night but nothing ever came behind it. tarver made that comment, loew was telling him that in the corner. he looked pretty comfortable and was moving better than he has in the past but, like loew told him, he can't just throw one punch at a time.

maybe it was ring rust combined with fighting at a higher weight having his timing off but he was also having a hard time getting into position to throw combos and when he was, the trigger wasnt pulled. there were more than a few times where a straight right should have flowed natrually right down the pipe after one of those counter lefts.

all in all though i thought it was a great comeback fight. lopez wasnt someone kelly was just gonna walk through. tarver made that comment as well (i though antonio did a great job all night). kelly had to work and he got 10 rounds of good work in against a guy who was fighting him like most people will do from here on out. at the end of the day, kelly just beat an undefeated lhw w/ his left hand. he never really got off w/ his best weapon.

lots of good to take from the fight but also lots to work on.

 

there really isnt much in that post you just quoted that is inaccurate

 

I don't see how those defending pavlik can see him winning against Bute, Froch etc. It's one thing scraping and grinding a win out against Lopez and taking apart the elite of a division. Pavlik looks like he's lost a sharp tooth in his armoury for some reason now and I think him and his corner realise his power was diminished with the move up in weight as Loew even kept telling him to not look for the KO. Fair enough the guy wanted to get some rounds under his belt and shake off some ring rust but I have my doubts about what he can do at 168. His lack of head movement would seriously not help him either.

 

read the post right above the one you quoted.

also, your incorrect and/or ill-informed about kelly's condition prior to the martinez fight. he actually went to rehab for a couple weeks during camp, was working out 3-4 times a day, eating basically nothing and needed a long run and a sauna session right before the weigh in. he was sweating like a ***** in church on the scale. kelly was not fitter faster or stronger. in fact, he was down right unhealthy for martinez.

that being said, there is a lot he needs to work on.

 

What does he need to work on?

 

fair play here. if kelly had fought a top ten last night it probably woulda gone badly for him. i've said leading up to this fight that we don't know what were gonna get and i don't think anything has changed. if he has another fight and that "ring rust" is gone and he is getting into position better and not just throwing one punch at a time then we can discuss bigger fights.