Kelly Pavlik "not ready" to fight Joe Calzaghe

For JC to have any chance to beat Pavlik, he would need to fight him tomorrow at 68. I think Pavlik will continue to get better for at least 3-5 years, and JC will fade badly over the same time frame. Its debatable in my mind if JC could have ever beaten even the present day Pavlik, but give Pavlik a few more fights to season up, and a few more years for JC to age, and its a walk through KO for Kelly.

 

Palik but what does that have to do with JC beating him?

Calzaghe ducking Pavlik is nuthuggers perception.

 

if this fight is going to happen, it will happen within 12 months. Joe only has a year left either way, he is an old man boxing wise, although he doesnt take much punishment i dont think that workrate is something an old man can do forever.

Alot of people re saying Pavlik should get on with his own thing and unify the belts, well maybe that is a good idea, but in reality he could do that anywhere, the paper belt holders aint going to go anywhere anytime soon. but Pavliks team would be silly to miss out on a MULTI MILLION dollar super fight because they wanna 'unify' - Pavliks the linear universally recognized undisputed top dog at middleweight anyway.

There would be more money in a RJJ fight, but that the type of win that ranks next up there with Johnsons over Jeffries, Marcianos over Louis, Holmes over Ali, Tysons over Holmes, and Lennox's over Tysons, sure they were massive paydays but when people look back the winner of those fights never really get the credit they are due. For this reason the young reigning 160 champ would be better for him.

 

he dosnt take much punishment because he doesn't fight many quality fighters.

 

For a guy as talented and as adaptable like Calzaghe to lose to a one dimensional fighter like Pavlik he'd have to be totally shot....and I don't think Joe is shot.

 

I think Mundine vacated as quick as he did because of a backdoor deal to become Sturms mandatory. Just my hunch.

 

I hope your right, but my avatar would thrash me if I tried to ditch him. He put up one hell of a fight just when I tried to get him to wear that fig leaf.

 

Well joe has fought better fighters than Kelly Pavlik and has taken much less punishment over a longer career. How many quality fighter do you have to beat for them to be 'many' in your opinion?

 

pavlik's resume was pretty slim prior to miranda, i'll give you that.

but miranda, taylor, taylor(2) more than destroys any 3 in a row - or 3 at any time i challenge you to beat - than calzaghe has done over his career.

don't forget what stage of his career eubank was at when he fought joe by the way so i don't have to reply to it in advance.

now it's your turn to defend the fighters joe has fought in his career so i can respond to it.

 

If they're paying attention, both teams, they should know the huge interest there is in a Pavlik vs Calzaghe. This is the fight most fans want to see.

I'm a Calzaghe fan, and I would love to see this match-up. I'd be very let down if Joe fought RJJ, especially after the anticipation and possible meet-up talk between Calzaghe and Pavlik.

Arum/Warren; Make the goddamn fight.

 

On top of that, Calzaghe can generate JUST as much money fighting Pavlik, as he can fighting RJJ. Even weight i'd say, until you start talking legacy; Calzaghe can kill two birds with one stone. He can make just as much money, but cement his legacy in the sport.

I do not believe Pavlik is in Calzaghe's class, yet Pavlik cannot be considered 'green' or anything of the sort. Pavlik went 19 rounds with Taylor, and 7 hard rounds with Miranda. We all know he belongs and is one of the best fighters today. Arguments swing either way; Overrated, underrated - doesn't matter though. It is FACT, he went 19 rounds with Taylor, who is athletically gifted, and a great boxer. So there is no shame in Calzaghe fighting, and possibly beating Kelly Pavlik. The detractors have nothing to detract from this fight.

Also taking into consideration; Pavlik's weight. He can EASILY make 168, and is possibly a natural 175 pounder. Weight wouldn't/wont be an issue.

Both men have everything to gain, and a lot to lose. Both fighters have undefeated records; always appealing to the average boxing fan. Both are determined men. Both have desire to win......And both would make a pretty penny by agreeing to fight. The fans want it!

 

I've been beating the drum that this fight HAS to happen or the guy that doesn't want it loses more respect than he would in the ring for this fight.

 

i have done, many many times.

Firstly every long reigning champion that their has ever been has fought nobodies, it apart of the sport.

Secondly Calzaghe has beaten many a quality fighter. eubank was 31 and coming to the end but you can also say joe was green and in his first ever world title fight, Joe knocked iron chinned Chris down twice in a dominant performance. (Eubank actually said the shot jc caught him with was the hardest he had ever been hit, coming froma man that fought Benn, Thompson, Collins and Watson that aint bad going).

Pavlik has fought two title fights against the same fella, badly hurt and nearly stopped in the first fight while the rematch being a lot closer. Jermain Taylor is a class act imo, better than som give him credit for, a good name to win your title off of, Pavlik is lucky to have a linear champ to beat.

As for Miranda, I dont rate him, its a fact exciting punchers are overrated quicker than the legit talent. but KP won in good fashion and it certainly was a good win.

As for Calzaghes record, granted the big fights came late but to rack up wins against a younger undeafeated WBC/WBA champ Kessler is a good win im sure you will agree.

As for the bashing joe gets for what was his defining fight against Lacy. All I can say is its easy to be clever after the event. But the facts are it was a 50-50 fight going in, in fact Lacy was favoured over the ''faded'' Joe Calzaghe. It was the biggest fight 168 had seen since Benn - McClellan and you will be hard pressed to find a 50-50 fight where the underdog batters the younger favourite so comprehensively, one sided fights of that magnitude, especially at this level are extrmely rare! It will be a performance that will go down in history if people care to admit that or not!

Lacy was a good name to add as was the IBF title, but it is how he added them which makes it great.

but Joe also get no credit for his body of work before the Lacy fight, even though he racked up many wins against world class operators, Charles Brewer, peak Robin Ried, Richie Woodhall and byron Mitchell had all won world titles and JC beat them comprehensively,he beat Ried with an injury and he was the first to stop Mitchell.


but other good wins are Omar Shieka who was highly touted at the time and coming off of a win over Glen johnson, David Starie was a touted domestic talent who had beaten Clinton Woods, Mario Viet was 30-0 when Joe knocked him out in the first round, and only really fought the rematch coz Viet had earned the WBO-interim title and was a nessesity. Joe got ripped to shreds for fighting Sakio Bika in his first fight after Lacy but in reality was a legit top 10 talent and has a style that could trouble anyone. not a bad list of names to get going on, especially if you add Bernard Hopkins name and 175lb title to the pile.

Hopefully he'll cap it off with another dominant win over the likes of Kelly Pavlik.

 

I will go on record and let it be known, that if either fighter (yes Calzaghe too) doesn't somehow get this fight made, baring the promoters ****ing it up; yes, whoever, will lose a lot of respect from me as well.

 

which is why i'm saying jones and hopkins have passed him by.

i agree that JC's legacy will look much better with a pavlik win than a jones win at this stage, but the truth remains that calzaghe wanted nothing to do with jones or hopkins when it mattered.

you can't fight and have no leverage outside of the US (like all warren fighters do) and expect love from P4P fighters who can change the way the world looks at you.

warren knw this consciously and JC subscribed to this view also.

JC cannot 'cement' his legacy in boxing because the fighters he should - and could - have fought never happened because he and warren never took the simple step to fight a guy like william joppy on a PPV undercard to get a foothold in the US and force the hand of the big boys...

seriously? how hard would that have been considering the lack of competition surrounding jones and hopkins at that time?

middles and light-heavies were nothing to be worried about, were they?

and that's the irony of the situation.

i rest my case.