Head and shoulders above the rest at 160, which at the moment is a very uninspiring division, take Abraham and maybe Mundine (on a good day)out and 160 isnt up to much. His future is at super middleweight, where the contenders are bigger, stronger and on the whole the division has a lot more depth, Kessler, Bute, Froch, Green, Andrade are all solid, with Calzaghe being the cream of the crop. Calzaghe - Pavlik is a must imo and must happen this year, Calzaghe is coming off a win against a big name and is in his last year, while Pavlik is still at his peak, he'd ft into 168 easy. Kelly has had his easy first(second) defence now and there is nobody at middle that can really up his status anymore tha it already is. Linear champ vs Linear champ is the type of fight that can get fans of both the general and classic forums excited. As for Kellys ATG status, becoming a linear champion straight away with 2 good wins over a quality champion like Jermain Taylor puts him in good stead. but we must remember exciting fighters get fans over excitited too easy and they are quick to make judgemet calls which dont hold any water, for example there is a thread on the general forum claiming that Pavlik is the number 1 pound for pound right now which is ridiculous, KOing Lockett means nothing at world level. I am a fan though.
Lockett is a terrible fighter, note even remotely world class. This fight was a gimme for Pavlik-a chance to relax after his tough fights with Taylor.it told us absolutely nothing we didn't already know. Ranting about ATG status etc is ridiculously premature.Lets just let the man keep fighting for now.See how things go.
I would be willing to make a bet with you that if pavlik fought calzaghe, he would win more than 3 rounds out of the 12(if calzaghe even survives that long) which is what SS implied. Calzaghe is 36, Pavlik 10 years his junior at 26. I understand its hard for you to except a new young American great coming up, but accept it. Pavlik will reign for a long time....Enzo **** his pants last night.
Just one question......After Kelly Pavlik whips joe calzaghe's butt, is everyone going to say " pavlik only beat him because joe was old?" whats will your exuses be for joe?
whats ur defintition of world class? Lockett was ranked # 1 by WBO, he had never been stopped before, he spotted a good 30-1 record.
if pavlik beat calzaghe, hater are gonna say that he is too old if pavlik beat kessler, hater are gonna say calzaghe ruined kesslerà if pavlik beat Abraham, hater are gonna say that Abraham is a bum overrated if pavlik beat Froch, hater are gonna say he is another england fraud if pavlik beat Dawson, hater are gonna say that Glen Johnson exposed him I can do that all day
World class involves facing and defeating fighters who were world class (and a badly used-up Ryan Rhodes is the only fighter who comes remotely close to qualfying on Lockett's record), and displaying a world class skill-set while doing so (and Lockett never did.) Lest we forget, Suze, the WBO rated a dead guy in its top 10 rankings for over two months, so there goes that brilliant argument. And, as for the good record...Peter McNeeley was 36-1 when he faced Tyson...do you think he was a world class opponent? Try again.