Should pavlik stay at 160 or go to 168

If he can't beat Williams, Martinez, Wright, or Sturm at 160 then he should retire and forget about 168. The top fighters at 168 who are not bigger than him, can beat him by outboxing him easily. Bute, Ward, and Dirrell all outbox him like nothing. Kessler outboxes him too, Froch and Abraham can stop him(old man Hopkins wobbled Pavlik imagine what those two could do to Pavlik). Taylor, Miranda and Green are the only fighters Pavlik can beat.

But of course if you're looking for big money fights then just put him up against Lucian Bute in Canada and watch him get outboxed once again and drop back down to 160 claiming 168 is too much for him.

 

atsch I forgot about Andrade.

Due to Andrade's come forward style, I think Pavlik can beat him but it won't be easy. If you just come forward and brawl with Pavlik then you're going down.

 

First let's set the record straight. Kelly Pavlik has more fights above 160 than he has fights at 160.

If you throw out the fights at 162-164, he has fought at, near, or above the super middleweight limit 14 times. His record in those fights stands at 13-1 with 11 KO's. The lone loss was to an all time great. Taylor made the distance mainly because Pavlik injured both hands, and had to let off the throttle and box patiently more than he usually does. The other guy who made the distance was Ross Thompson at 170. It was an 8 rounder in 2005. Thompson won 1 round on 1 score card, and never fought again.

However, I too voted "stay at 160." I think he should stay at middleweight for a number of reasons, and stay for as long as he can make weight without risking his health. Historically and traditionally middleweight has always been the second most prestigious division in boxing. It's been in a bit of a down time, but a lot of that is because Taylor, Pavlik, and Abraham cleaned it out. Right now it's about to get hot. Pavlik is in a perfect postion to become the experienced champ in his prime ruling over a very good division.

 

I think he should fight Williams and Sturm and if successful then he should move up. I don't think he would beat Bute or Abraham, but he has a good chance against Froch and he would destroy Allen Green.

 

If I could hand pick one fighter who would make Pavlik look like godzilla on steroids it would be Arthur "the can killer" Abraham. Even Uli Wegner admitted, "Arthur would have no chance against Kelly Pavlik." When your own trainer says **** like that, you're gonna catch an ass whoopin'.

 

I've doubted Arthur in the past but I don't know. This is a toss up to me. King Arthur's jaw is literally titanium now, he has I think 23 screws in it or something. I think people think Arthur wouldn't be able to take the punishment in the shell that Pavlik will dish out. If he can he wins this fight and I think via knockout. He throws very quick flurries and some of the punches are wide. I see him landing many punches on Pavlik. Either way I'd like to see this fight. To many ways this fight can go, it needs to happen.

 

I agree - it still needs to happen. Trust me, very few people spent as much time analyzing this one as I have. Pavlik stops Arthur in 8 rounds at 160, and at 168 AA is still pretty much untested, but KP has fought at the weight or higher 14 times.

 

You could be right, how do you think he does with Sturm? But WTF will Sturm even be able to fight Pavlik now that he signed that 10 TV deal over there in Europe? Or will Pavlik have to go over there for the fight to happen?

 

I have no idea what the TV deal means for Pavlik/Sturm. Felix made a bunch of noise about wanting to fight KP in the states, and then signed that deal. I was a bit surprised by it. Maybe it's not an exclusive deal.:think

Here's a link to an old thead you may find interesting. It's old, but still mostly relevant.

http://www.eastsideboxing.com/forum/showthread.php?t=117262&highlight=Pavlik%2FAbraham%3A+a+closer+look

 

Well hell he makes loads of money fighting over there in Germany. I mean last time he came to the states he thought he was blatantly robbed against Oscar De La Hoya.

Hey I'm out though, I got to get some sleep so I can party hard for New Years tomorrow!!!!!!!

 

HBO offered a paltry $2 million total purse for Pavlik/Sturm. In my opinion that is an insult to both fighters.

 

I'm one of them and I'm telling you again that you're dead wrong

Let's hope that this must-have fight will ever happen!

 

Good points. Still I believe Pavlik can dominate at 160 and would lose quite a few fights at 168. Stumr might give him some problems, but with his range and power, he would probably catch him at some point. At 168, Abraham is a harder - chinned, harder punching opponent, Dirrell and Ward have the speed to beat him and Kessler always seemed to me like a bigger, slightly better version of Pavlik. Bute is a tough customer too.

 

Pavlik should stay at 160 until he has problems making 160. So far in the division his biggest threats are Paul Williams, Sergio Martinez, and Matthew Macklin.

 

168 is quite interesting right now. I do not think any of those guys are headed for all time great status, but we do have several fighters who appear to be about on the same "very good" level. I doubt if any of them could fight all the others and come away without a loss or two. Pavlik would be in the same boat.

At 160, as I said, he is in the perfect position to rule over a pretty good division. There is a lot of developing talent at 160. Some of those guys will catch a lot of hype, and one or two will have fans declaring them to be the next great middleweight champ. Pavlik could stay put at 160, and be The World Champion. He could do pretty much what Haglar and Hopkins did provided he can keep making the weight.