The Gary Lockett Express!

:good Exactly. He has to fight Lockett by the end of September, or he will be stripped of the title. June is the best time, it leaves him enough time to face his WBC mandatory this fall, and then go on to a big fight this winter.

 

Lest we forget, this fight actually went to the lowest bidder. If you recall, Duddy was set to command a big purse because of his drawing power. When that fell through the 'next in lines' thought they should get the same purse in spite of the fact they couldn't even sell a ticket to their own mothers. Arum was trying to make a fight that wouldn't be on Pay Per View after the Taylor/Pavlik 2 fight. He even talked about trying to get on regular 'over the air' networks. He is trying to build Pavlik's drawing power with the general public. At least Lockett allowed him to stay off PPV.

 

He certainly aint a bum but I also don't think any true champs should respect the wishes of the WBO. The WBO are in no position to be dictating to real champs like Pavlik.

 

This is all true. In addition HBO wanted Lockett after they reviewed tapes of him and some other fighters. And ya know -- in all the boxing politics and posturing Zuniga gets ****ed repeatedly! He threw his name in the hat after the Duddy fiasco, but got zero attention. This is a cryin' damn shame! If there is one guy on Pavlik's resume who deserves a rematch, it's Fulgencio Zuniga!

 

Not to mention a devestating KO of Lockett to US (hardcore boxing fans) might not mean much, to Pav's marketability it could do a lot of good.

 

lockett is no 1 contender.calzaghe spars with lockett and he will watch this fight closely. he knows how lockett fights and can learn alot about pavlik by watching how pavlik deals with lockett.

 

Yes, a champ must be a "bum" for having a soft defense.

Muhammad Ali never defended his titles with the likes of Richard Dunn or Chuck Wepner. Floyd Patterson always fought the best opposition, never would he take on a fighter making his pro debut. Joe Frazier never took soft touches against guys like Ron Stander and Terry Daniels. Imagine Larry Holmes defending his title against guys with 15 pro fights or less!! Or worse yet, a light-heavyweight who had never fought at heavyweight before and normally was 40-45 lbs less than Holmes!! Could you imagine Evander Holyfield defending against 42 year olds?

Kelly Pavlik must be a real "bum" for taking on a supposed easy touch. Great champions have never done that before.

 

your feelings have been hurt...i can tell

 

No, I just like doing the sarcasm whenever there's a ridiculous thread (or in this case, article).

I do it all the time when people talk about the "good old days".

 

What a crock. And DLH was not treated very well in the press. Remember Michael Katz calling DLH Chicken DeLahoya? Oscar fought all the top fighters of his day.

Pavlik is clearly not going to avoid anyone either. One mandatory? RJJ fought years of mandatories without facing some of the guys people wanted him to fight.

 

Fighting a bum doesnt make you a bum, but if Arum and Pav keep this shiit up (plans on facing Rubio after Lockett :-( ) they will pay a price.

 

Rubio is the WBC mandatory! How is Pavlik suppose to reach his goal of unifying the titles wthout fighting his mandatories? Fans and writers a-like need to PAY ATTENTION!

 

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**** the alpha soup belts.

Pav is the Ring Mag and linear champ, if he paseed over Locket for a fight with Abraham no one would give two shiits about the crappy belt.

 

You're probably right here, but the powers that be want AA to get some serious exposure in the USA before he fights Pavlik. If AA beats Miranda again, and Kelly blows out Lockett and Rubio as he should, both guys, with their respective titles, will be in a postion to headline a MAJOR ppv. Right now neither one can command big ppv numbers. It's all about the money, and you can't really blame them for that considering the extremely short shelf life of a pro boxer.

 

The only real use of this entire thread is in proving that the term 'bum' has completely lost every single shred of meaning that it once had. Everyone who loses (even if only once or twice) is now a bum. If someone fights a B level fighter they are suddenly called a bum. Hell, may as well say that Pep was a bum too -- so was that Hearns bloke, come to think of it.