Considering how bad Kelly Pavlik look now, wtf happened? Vladimir23 was hyping this guy like he was God, back in the days.. I thought he was great too... I mean did B-HOP honestly take his soul that much? I thought he looked all right against Martinez until Martinez bloodied his face and started the facial leak...
Hopkins gets most of the credit. However, it was Kelly Pavlik who decided to become lazy after that fight. Pavlik still has the tools to become an elite fighter again. However, he just seems too lazy to do so.
He just wasn't that great to begin with, folks. Solid chin and power, that's it. He beat Taylor, then lost to any other world class fighter thereafter.
Hopkins did not take Kelly's soul, thats a myth. Kelly got rich, some guys fight harder when they don't have a house. I was not impressed with Kelly tonight, but he still might be able to get some of the old mojo back.
Why isn't Johnnie Walker on the poll? Like alot of fighters, Pavlik didn't have the same discipline and edge once he acquired the title as he did leading up to it. It's the downfall of a lot of champions - these are rags to riches guys and it's not easy to keep that hunger for more than a few defenses. Hopkins and Martinez are the kind of pros trainers dream about for how they respect the sport and their careers and what they really exposed was how much Kelly started taking his career for granted and neglecting it. From what I hear the drinking problem wasn't a problem until he lifted the belt off of Taylor, and it continued to be a factor in his subsequent defenses and the Hopkins fight. His whole camp took the Hopkins fight too lightly by going on about nonsense like being the one to knock out Bernard. His conditioning also declined from being great to just average as his reign wore on, which is why his workrate started dropping so much. Bottom line is you're not beating a Hopkins/Martinez kind of fighter without being 100% focused and disciplined going into it. I hope Kelly's truly past his alcoholism. We'll see what level he can get back to.
Hopkins didn't beat Pavlik because his conditioning was poor or he lost his hunger, he beat him because Pavlik was absolutely tailor made for his style.
He looked utterly confused after B-Hop beat him. 'but...but...but.....he's a grandad.....Taylor beat him and I beat Taylor...so...but...but'