Who did any of the guys in the S6 beat before the tourney started? Answer: Pavlik's left overs, and some guys who weren't as good as Pavlik's left overs. They did not suddenly become better just because they joined a tournament.
That's a legitimate point-of-view, whether I disagree with it or not. Resumes notwithstanding, the point is this, though: Do you genuinely believe he can hang with 168 crowd? I, personally, don't think he can. Do you?
The S6 should have opened with Pavlik/Abraham, but Sauerland did everything in his power to make damn sure it did not open that way. There's your answer.
Those guys would probably be better choices than jumping from Brian Vera to Lucian Bute. The problems is that if Pavlik watched Bute/Brinkley, he is probably extremely confident right now.