Look for the big upset on Dec 19th!

So you really think a fight with Espino proves that KP is "back"???

In the minds of most objective boxing experts, Williams gets more credit for Losing/drawing/outpointing Martinez than Pavlik would ever get for knocking out Espino regardless of how it takes place.

 

The fight itself won't prove much. Espino is a guy Top Rank picked based on the fact that KP can probably beat his ass from pillar to post with one good hand. I'm just having some fun on a ridiculous thread:yep

 

no, ***** slapping espino around the ring w/ one hand (basically what he'll have) won't show that he's "back." but it will give him an idea of where he's at considering all he's been through in the past year, and he'll get to keep the sanctioning bodies off his back which was the point of this fight all along.

williams deserves all the credit in the world for his performance and so does martinez. beating martinez is a bigger accomplishment than beating espino.

we'll know that pavlik is back when he beats williams. the fight will happen. i know that many people won't watch (order) the espino fight but i would pay attention to what kelly says after the fight.

 

maybe if it were his right hand

 

Ahhhh...... this explains a lot. :deal

 

Kelly will always beat opponents like this, just like he'll probably always have touble with slick fighters.

 

Even now Pavlik's left hand is still only operating at 95%. In other words, doing better, but still not fully healed.

http://www.vindy.com/news/2009/dec/08/pavlik-enters-the-home-stretch/

 

Espino is alot better than Lockett! Ive seen him a few times and hes a pretty decent fighter,but his power is average at best. Id say hes about on Rubios level.

 

So because Pavlik lost to B Hop that means he will be beaten by Espino?

 

Pavlik: ‘I’m back to 100 percent’

By MIKE McLAIN Tribune Chronicle
POSTED: December 16, 2009


YOUNGSTOWN - As Kelly Pavlik circled the ring and landed sharp, accurate punches into the padded hands of trainer Jack Loew Tuesday afternoon, the sound of the blows could be heard throughout the South Side Boxing Club.

At one point Loew, his arms growing tired from the powerful punches, looked at a ringside observer and winked. It was his way of saying that Pavlik is back and ready to go.

Pavlik, who owns the WBO and WBC middleweight titles, hasn't fought since he scored a nine-round technical knockout of Marco Antonio Rubio last Feb. 21. He will meet Miguel Espino in a 12-round bout Saturday at Beeghly Center on the Youngstown State University campus.

Pavlik's inactivity was due to a staph infection that developed on his left hand, which forced the cancellation of a scheduled fight against Paul Williams. Pavlik left no doubt after his workout Tuesday concerning how he thinks the fight will unfold.

"A butt whuppin'," he said.

The inactivity doesn't seem to bother Pavlik, who will take a 35-1-0 record with 31 knockouts into the fight. Espino has a 20-2-1 record with nine knockouts.

"After nine and a half years of being a professional fighter and all the fights in the amateurs, I'm used to it," Pavlik said. "I'm always in fight mode. We had the same time of a layoff when I came back to fight Bronco McKart, and that time he was on his way back up again. We went in there and stopped him in six rounds.

"Sometimes these layoffs do good. Unfortunately, this last layoff wasn't a reason for me to sit back and relax. It was a serious situation that we had to overcome."

The fight against McKart took place July 27, 2006. Pavlik's previous fight occurred Oct. 7, 2005, when he stopped Fulgencio Zuniga in nine rounds to win the vacant North American Boxing Federation middleweight crown.

Pavlik didn't have to come back from a serious injury at that time. [This is not accurate. Pavlik was off 9 months due to surgery on his right hand.] Returning from the infection made training for the fight Saturday more problematic

Close observers noticed a change for the better in Pavlik's workouts in the last week. It showed that in the ring Tuesday before a group of media representatives.

"A lot of fighters sometimes switch it up and do a strength day instead of a boxing day," Pavlik said. "I was just out in Vegas, and a lot of the trainers will do that. They'll give them a day off from boxing and focus on conditioning and strength, and some days they just go to the boxing.

"We tie all of ours in. We pretty much do three times a day working out. For a couple of weeks I get stiff and tight, which is natural. When we start pulling off all of that and get off the weights, then the snap starts coming back, the looseness comes back. Usually the week of (the fight) is when the snap comes back."

In what is rare in the sport, Espino was at the South Side gym prior to Pavlik's arrival to stage a workout. Pavlik didn't mind the intrusion into his territory. All that matters to him as what takes place Saturday night.

"He's coming to fight," Pavlik said. "That's the main thing. We know that. The kid has a ton of heart. He's in great shape. He throws a lot of punches. He's a game fighter. Like he said in a couple of the interviews, he's not laying down for the fight. He's not coming here for a big payday. He wants the belts that I have.

"Our main job is to go out there and be impressive, win the fight dominant and back him up and keep those belts."

What happens Saturday will decide if Pavlik is back to where he was for the Rubio fight, but he knows the answer.

"I'm back to 100 percent," he said. "Believe me, I'm hitting my sparring partners with some good shots. The snap is back and the hand speed is there. If not 100, then I'd say 99.9 percent."

Loew had two tired arms Tuesday to prove that point.

http://www.tribtoday.com/page/content.detail/id/531090.html?nav=5024

 

I remember a guy named Kevin Johnson that was high in the WBC rankings at HW and he fought this Klitschko guy and beforehand he had all kinds of things to say about his chances too...