PAVLIK vs. ABRAHAM pushed back yet again, most likely off

:happy:happy:happy

 

Big Bone has done an excellent job of maintaining this thread.:yep

 

I think I am for sure going to go if the fight happens at MSG ... I haven't been to NY in a while.

 

I don't know Kelly personally. Yeah. I got the photo at the Rubio fight. Well, it was given to Pipe Wrenched to give to me. So, I got it after the fight on the way home.

 

PAVLIK-ABRAHAM PUSHED BACK, MOST LIKELY OFF (IMO)

As you all know Pavlik had a minor injury a few weeks ago and got an infection, therefore a few days later Bob Arum pulled the plug and POSTPONED the Pavlik-Mora joke PPV card, most likely to a September date, killing any chances of a KP-Arthur Abraham showdown this year (no way Kelly will take on Mora and Abraham inside just 90 days).

But it's not that simple. It seems there's a lack of effective communication between Team Pavlik and Top Rank. Both Mike and Kelly Pavlik confirmed that despite the injury, they are/were ready to fight and didn't feel it was necessary to cancel or postpone. In fact, Arum informed the media of the decision BEFORE he informed Team Pavlik, who only got the info from the internet.

“Kelly didn’t cancel any fight due to injury,” Mike Sr. said late Wednesday night. “As a matter of fact, he had been loosening up in the gym over the past week getting ready for the fight. “We were ready to fight.” Mike Sr. said his son did have an infection in his hand several weeks ago, but it has since cleared up.

“One of his knuckles split open and he got a blister,” he said. “It cleared up a week and a half ago and we were all ready to fight Mora. “Then I read on the Internet that they pulled the fight. I don’t know who in the [heck] they talked to.”

Kelly also told The Vindicator, "I'm healthy enough to fight."



Why would Arum pull the plug without talking to Team Pavlik, trying to clear the medical situation? Did he make a mistake or it is about boxing politics, playing the cards right? Here's what Arum has to say:

“There are millions of dollars involved and other fighters and we didn’t want to jerk anyone around,” said Arum, whose company was going to air the event independently on June 27. “We didn’t want to go through with it without having a clear report on the status of his hand. We didn’t want to do everything at the last minute,” said Arum. “We ran out of time to get the commercials and the other materials to the cable systems.”

Arum said he still expects the fight to happen, most likely in September. “We’re just postponing the event six weeks,” he said. “Hopefully we can get a medical report saying he’s good enough to fight and that he’s 100 percent OK. “Once we get that, we’ll reschedule the event. It’s no big deal.”
The Mora fight was expected to be a precursor to a November showdown with IBF middleweight champion Arthur Abraham. Pavlik (35-1, 31 KOs), who holds the WBC and WBO titles, and Abraham (29-0, 23 KOs) are generally regarded as the top two middleweights in boxing.

When asked how the postponement affects those plans, Arum said, “I don’t think it affects it at all. We can still put that fight on in December or January.”



Well, I'm not so optimistic about that. I see 3 possible explanations why Arum postponed thr Mora fight when it wasn’t necessary at all:
-postponing the Mora fight was a mistake of Arum, lack of communication between fighter management and the promoter resulted in rescheduling
-Arum was realistic and didn't want to risk a multi-million dollar event
-Knowing that Abraham has very serious weight problems and very likely that he'll move up at the end of the year or the very moment chances of the superfight drop to the minimum, this little postponement is an excellent way to sneak out of the unification fight and 'blame' Kelly's injury or Sauerland’s lack of patience for that.

I don't believe in a 4th scenario: Team Pavlik making up the injury to postpone the Mora fight and back out of the bigtime unification, originally scheduled for a November date. But whatever the reason is, the fight in 2008 is unlikely, and it’s also unlikely that Abraham will fight at 160 in 2009. Scenario #3 is the most realistic IMO. Arum takes only minimum risks this year anyway (Cotto-Clottey, PacMan-Valero/Cotto: Top Rank only fights. JuanMa-Penalosa, Margarito-Shane: calculated risks, no mention of Mosley either for PacMan or for Cotto, no talk of Mayweather or Williams for any Top Rank fighter etc.)

I really don't see and never seen any sign of Top Rank/Team Pavlik being seriously interested in the Abraham fight, which is very risky with relatively average reward if you care about money only. And guess what: the very minute a minor injury comes, Arum is quick to push back (and not cancel) this bull**** voluntary defense everyone is raging against, minimizing the chances of the superfight ALL OF BOXING, TV/HBO, experts, fans, everybody want.

It was possible to get rid of the Latin Fake and make the Abraham fight immediately, but it didn't happen, so I think chances are good it will never happen.

 

4. After Bhop Arum wasn't going forward with the fight till he saw a doctor's release in writing. Team Pavlik did hide his condition from Arum before the Bhop fight. That's no secret now. They went as far as to charge antibiotics off to another person so Arum wouldn't know. It's Arum's money but the communication does seem to be ****.

5. I have also wondered if he thought this PPV would not bring in the revenue he expected. More folks done with vacation in September.

 

#4-#5=#2. Didn't want to risk the fight. Yes, the summer PPV renevue could be a factor, but I don't think he forgot to calculate that when he made the fight.

 

I guess my point is, I don't think it is as 'sinister' as it appears. Hard to say though.

 

I was just looking at Arthur's weigh in weights over the last few years, and I am no longer certain I beleive these stories about how much he struggles. He rarely weighs in at the full 160 pound limit. If he has lifstyle issues that cause him to blow up between fights, he needs to quit crying, and get those under control.

Arthur's so called weight issues are the main thing that have peopled worried about Pavlik/Abraham not happening. However, the Sauerland camp recently said if Pavlik fights Mora in September, they will gladly wait for a December or January date.

 

But more people paying ridiculous amount of money for school supplies (or books or etc etc etc). September is a rough month for PPV.

 

This fight is never gonna happen.
Shameful.

 

Abraham KO

 

I saw this coming. Abraham said in a recent interview that his last fight at middleweight will be in November. I was thinking this is his final shot to land a fight with Pavlik.

 

Sauerland already said they'd be fine with a December or January date.

 

I hope the lines of communication are better between Arum and Saurland than between Arum and Team Pavlik at this point.