Pavliks's footwork?

It won't be footwork that will get him a win over Kessler or Calzaghe. He will need a cast iron chin, a knockout punch and a high work rate, and that is what he has. The question is can he endure the frustration of losing nearly every round until he can wear them down for a late round knockout? :huh

 

An asset that doesn't favor him.

 

Way back when I was a youngster people often criticised another one of my favorite fighters for havng slow feet, mediocre hand speed, and for having trouble with slick boxers. That fighter was Alexis Arguello!! I'm NOT putting Pavlik in the same class with Alexis. I'm just saying that you do not have to be Roy Jones or PBF to end up with one helluva career.

 

I heard Pavlik once punched god and made him bleed, that explains why the skies are red at dusk

 

It's fine. It's not perfect, but it certainly suits his style. Anyone crticising him because he's not like Fred Astaire is well off the mark. George Foreman is often descibed as a plodder, which is also untrue. Their type of fighting is to hunt down their man, cut the ring off and pressure them. Pavlik does that exceptionally well. If he could move like Pernell Whitaker, he wouldn't be as good of a fighter.

What does Pavlik do wrong, given his style? Not much, in my opinion.

 

Good Post.

 

A cross between rhumba and triple swing danced offbeat.

 

His footwork is alright I think. Not fast, but prety technically solid. One problem that I see though is that he tends to fall off balance a lot so his legs are a bit stiff and rigid.

 

Spot on! I've brought up the balance issues many time. Kind of reminds me of Danny Lopez a bit. Little Red used to get knocked down ALL THE TIME! But you couldn't question his chin. It was the combination of leaky defense and balance issues.

 

No it's not. He gets away with it because his plus points are strong enough to make his weaknesses not matter....so far.
His footwork is AWFUL. Nothing short. And I am not talking about moving around the ring, but very basic footwork when throwing punches.

He does not move his feet with a shot. For example as he throws the right hand, he should be moving his feet into the shot, unless he has a man stood stationary in front of him he should be bringing the back foot forward, stepping into the punch and have himself set to throw again.

He doesn't. If he lands it is fine, because the punch does not travel its full extension, due to being stopped by the unlucky man he is hitting. But if he misses, his arm loops forward, his body is pulled over and he is WIDE open. Watch even in his domination of Lockett, when he misses he looks like apub drunk. That is not because he has bad punching technique, it is purely footwork. His feet do not move with him, so when the shot reachs full extension, it swings past the point where the man should have been and drags him over, he lolls forwards like a dead weight and his whole torso is dragged forwards.

He then has to re-set himself to throw again and he literally, stops, realigns his feet and is ready to go again.

It is IMO his biggest weakness. The moment he faces a fast accurate counter puncher you will see this in all its glory. That said his great determination, stamina, workrate and power might still see him through. But his footwork is dreadful, absolutely dreadful.

It is why he can be tagged so easily, you talk about Kesslers head movement, but Kessler moves in and out of range, he is far harder to hit than Pavlik due to his footwork.If he misses, his body is set still, he can hit going backwards or after missing a big punch...

Pavlik cannot.

 

I only read as far as the post I just responded to. The balance issue is purely down to his footwork.
There is a reason why boxers shadow box and jump rope....it is to get certain movements in the muscle memory and to ensure the feet move naturally with the hands.

Pavlik is only pulled off balance because his footwork is crap. People see the term footwork and assume it means can someone do an Ali Shuffle or are they bouncing around the ring on the balls of their feet, but that is too simplistic.

A fairly methodical fighter can still have decent footwork. But Pavliks is ****, which is why he loses his balance, why he ends up looking wide and open, he is off set from a shot and the one that misses totally drags his stance out of shape and has him looking clumsy.

 

I had not stopped to think very deeply about how footwork and balance go hand in hand. I think both of your posts make sense. Thinking about it the way you layed it out, it could, at least theoretically, be improved a lot. Where as if a guy had "balance issues" because of inner ear problems or something like that, he's just ****ed.

 

Pavlik is so tall he can French kiss the sun

 

These assholes will look for anything to discredit Pavlik. What do I think of KP's footwork?

This is boxing & you don't KO people with your feet. 30 KO's in 34 fights. He must be doing something right.