comon guys, let be real, that was right after the fight, he didnt know what he was saying, if you know, how much it hurt when after so much work, you get an ass whooping, you would start thinkin what went wrong, and say anything, just to make you feel better, a couple of day after the fight, Pavlik would had no problem to give Hopkins credit, he aint a fool. The emotion and pride, just made him say stupid thing, its like that for a lot a boxer.
I honestly believe Kelly had no idea about what actually happened to him that night. He was bewildered by BHOP.
After watching the tape of the fight I would hope that Pavlik has changed his opinion. He was clearly speaking off his emotions in this video.
It was right after the fight, and he got his ass kicked. He probably was still confused and embarassed.
I don't know why Pavlik's management wanted him to fight Hopkins. Hopkins isn't a big draw, it was a bad style match, and Hopkins always makes you look bad enough if you beat him. They should have considered that losing to Hopkins would be a disaster to Pavlik's career which might take years to recover from.
Pav was just confused by what happened, I was confused as well as I was rooting for Pav but damn did Hopkins suprise my ass. I'll never underestimate Hop ever again in my life.
They thought they were going to fight an old BHOP, who is a decent draw and an ATG legend whom all boxing fans know is very tough. They thought he would be the 1st to stop him. Instead a a rejuvenated and fresh Hopkins beat him down. I maintained all along if Pavlik were fighting a prime BHOP, he would lose every time. And we all see what happened when the ghost of BHOP's prime showed up for one night.