Currently at 160, there are only three champions: Kelly Pavlik (WBC/WBO/The Ring), Arthur Abraham (IBF), and Felix Sturm (WBA), and a handful of little known contenders. Do you see Kelly Pavlik eventually unifying all the belts and becoming the next Undisputed Middleweight Champion?
I don't know if he'll necissarily get all of the belts, but it doesn't really matter. Pavlik's the linear champ, therefor there should be no dispute to who is the king at 160.
I say "no" because Sturm will never fight Pavlik. He will stay in Germany where he is safe. At least Abraham is willing to step up and challenge Kelly. Too bad they couldn't make that fight work this year.
If Pavlik is still hungry which I think he very much is and wants to do what BHOP did, I think he and Arum can lure Sturm to fight, even giving Sturm home field in Germany. Each man has his price. But in the end, no matter where they fight, Pavlik takes the belt away from Sturm.
I think Kelly is serious about superfights now. He wants the Calzaghe-Jones winner. Not so sure he will go back to middle or not.
Odds that Pavlik will unify the belts at Middleweight. ======================================================== 100% Abraham gets past Raul Marquez 90% Abraham doesn't lose his nerve 60% Pavlik beats Abraham ----------------------- 54% 50% Sturm loses his belt to Sebastian Slyvester 50% Sebastian Slyvester has an interest in facing Pavlik 80% Pavlik beats Sebastian Slyvester ----------------------- 20% 95% Pavlik avoids getting stripped of his WBO belt ( example refusing to fight Zbik ) 80% Pavlik avoids getting stripped of his WBC belt ( example refusing to fight Lorenzo ) ------------------------ 76% So 54% x 20% x 76% -> about 8.3% So most likely no but theortically possible.
It would take several fights to satisfy mandatories and setup unification bouts. Pavlik is already moving-up in weight, and I don't expect him to move back down to MW
Abraham is the only roadblock at the time... Pavlik will need to be at his best to beat him. (This Hopkins fight can ruin him, IMO)
There's no way Pavlik unifies all the belts at middleweight and I don't really think there's a big need to do so. He is the clear and undisputed linear champion, that makes the other titlists titles worth little. But the reason he won't unify is because I don't know if he ever fights at 160 again and if he does fight there I'd be surprised if its more than must an Abraham match. He's been fighting above 160 and there's a lot bigger money matches to be made there. I have a feeling we'll see Pavlik at 168 and 175 from now on.