ESPN : Andre Ward vs. Kelly Pavlik being discussed for February on HBO.

Ward pulls the plug on the Pavlik comeback.. Pavlik suffers Death by 1000 right hooks....

 

Ward rapes Pavlik for 12 rounds. Pavlik is a poor man's Froch, and we remember what happened there...

 

mismatch of epic proportions

 

**** would be horrifying, Mayweather-Gatti like. Might beat the Alcoholism out of Pavlik though.

 

Terrible fight, Pavlik is finished

 

Let's see it happen, No more wins on credit.
(Mayweather already exhausted our funds)

Ward would definitely be the favorite to win but its a good fight for both guy's...
Puts a needed paycheck in Ward's pocket & gives Kelly the comeback fight he needs to prove to himself if he still has it.

 

B-Hop turned Pavlik into an alchoholic.

Ward will turn him into a junkie.

 

I don't think Pavlik, faded though he is and less of a physical force at 168, is anything less than a solid fighter, currently. I have no problem with this fight, if it happens. I really don't think it'd be worse than a fight with, say, Magee, who's an okay fighter. Ward's beaten all the champions from his division (the only other two with a belt, he beat, clearly). Froch and AA are taking advantage of their titles and taking easier challenges after their tough few years and Ward can fight whoever, really. Whoever and wherever. It's his show now. Let's get used to it, laddies. He's in the same position Volo is in at heavyweight. It's the champ's show. In the ring, at the negotiation's table. If you don't like how he runs it, see if you can take it from him.

 

If Pavlik could get back to his apex form it could be interesting

Pavlik had one hell of a jab and right hand plus a pretty good defense

he is just no where near as athletic as Ward and doesnt transition well from offense to defense

Pavliks power is still there and his offense is still sharp and he has been improving the left hook as a weapon

I know my post is very optimistic for Pavlik but i couldnt see him win

 

Because he is a name that can help make Ward more money than if he fought say, a Dirrell.

That's the only reason.

 

couldnt agree more...shame Ward is achieving things on the pace of an ATG sort of fighter but is running out of opponents

i mean he could maybe fight Chavez jr...Martinez wont go up for a fight...maybe Sturm or Pirog would go up

at 168 maybe a Froch rematch if he bashes Bute again...maybe Bute if Bute beats Froch...Adonis Stevenson could be fun for 3 rounds

I think he has lots of fights at 175....Pascal, Cloud, Shumenov, Campillo and a few others

 

Funny to think how in 2008 this would've been almost universally looked upon with distaste as a gimme for Pavlik, a way to move up to 168 and quickly pad his record with a zero. Now, the script is flipped. This is something Ward himself would get very little credit for. (and risks losing a lot of credibility if he somehow loses)

 

Gotta be Boardwalk Hall. The only reason this fight makes any sense is to try to raise Ward's profile outside of Oakland.

 

Anyway, I say Ward by TKO. Pavlik would look like a character from The Walking Dead by the end of it. Little reason for me to believe it won't get stopped on cuts.

 

If I'm Pavlik, I don't take this fight. Not now.

But from Ward's standpoint, Pavlik's an acceptable challenger. As I've said before, now that Andre's unified things, I'd like to see him defend his title 5-10 times before moving up for legacy purposes. He's got to fight someone in the meantime while other top contenders emerge for him to fight, and Kelly still carries some name value. It'd be easier to build if Pavlik were to KO Rodriguez on HBO first to really sell the comeback.