The Super Six Has Totally Exposed Arthur Abraham

It's been obvious for a long time that Abraham has stamina problems. Guys with that much muscle mass tend to struggle at anything other than HW or CW. Jeff Lacy actually was a stamina exception, but neither he nor Abraham could handle lateral movement.

I respect Abraham for marching forward in the tournament, despite an almost certain defeat against Ward. He's still a fun guy to watch, and I'd love to see him square off against Pavlik. If they match him carefully, he can go to do exciting things and make a ton of money. PfP isn't in the cards and that's okay, because if he follows the Arturo Gatti model he can continue to be a huge attraction.

 

Our ATG Hopkins was ancient by the time he schooled Pavlik. People picked Pavlik to become the first man to stop Hopkins in that fight. Pavlik didn't get punked, he got embarrassed in every department. He was boxed silly. Furthermore, I wouldn't say Ward, Froch, or Dirrell are exactly nobodies. They are relatively young, HUNGRY fighters. No one lost to a "Joe Boxer" in this case.

Sergio Martinez wasn't considered to be a phenom (by the masses) before he took Pavlik's MW title. Pavlik's people thought they would walk through Martinez because he was a little guy moving up. He ends up outboxing the much larger Pavlik, cutting him up badly with clean punches.

No, he was exposed as a guy who cannot deal with a superior boxer, just like AA was in his last 3 losses. Pavlik can deal with a mover; what he can't deal with is a superior boxer who happens to move well.

Hell, Pavlik can be hurt and stopped by a guy who doesn't move (see Taylor 1). The guy needs good stamina and smart punch selection to finish him off. Taylor gets a KO2 over Pavlik if he had those two qualities. JT was standing right in front of him throughout that fight and nearly put him out.

So was Kelly Pavlik.

Agree with this 100%. I think he could have lost just as badly at 160. There just wasn't anyone there to do it. Credit to Dirrell for showing the blueprint on him first.

It's not about respecting AA or whoever else. I don't have any bias or any kind of agenda here. It's about "calling it as we see it". Pavlik and AA were both exposed. :deal

The question is, how would Pavlik do in the Super Six if he'd he been a participant since the beginning. I doubt he escapes without a few BAD losses. It's possible that he does even worse than AA did. But there's no way we will ever know for sure.

AA took the chance and at least tried at a weight class he has no business campaigning at. Yes, his stamina was gone by RD 4 tonight. Yes, he's got a much harder time coming on in the last few rounds against SMWs. This could have happened at 160 as well, if he fought a guy that had the tools to show it.

When you look at AA's opponents at MW, his resume isn't noteworthy at all there. The fact is, the Super Six brought out the best in some of its participants. AA and Taylor, two former MW champions, didn't do well. How ironic. That leads me to believe that Pavlik made a good choice for his career by not pushing for a spot in it.

In the end, while I agree that AA was exposed by the Super Six, I think we could say that about any of the losers when guys with good records fight in a tournament. They put it all on the line. Of course someone is going to lose. :thumbsup

 

Old news really. The guy is limited by choice, too. Not that he lacks necessary attributes to be great (Besides stamina I suppose).

 

In the end, I suppose in this case we can agree to disagree on who was more exposed -- Pavlik or Abraham. But, we do agree on mostly everything else, including that the fact that were both exposed.

And same to you. Interesting points all around. You are a solid poster. :good

 

AA is a hype job, he can't box. He is the most robotic fighter in history.

 

Totally BS. Abraham is done, but to say he has been exposed is stupid. Dirrell dominated the fight for the 3/4 of the fight, Froch really made a perfect fight, but against Ward Abraham had a lot of chances, but didn't use them. If Abraham is not letting his hands go, he can't win. Plain and simple. The Abraham I was a fan of, was a fighter who never gave up and who let his hands go in flurries - not frequently (he never was a volume puncher) but often enough. He never was very active, but the Abraham we saw in his last two fights was just sitting behind his turtle shell, almost doing nothing. He seemed to be completely lost. He was unable to time his punches, seemed to get tired very early in the fight. He's done, but he was much better, because he used to be a much tougher guy. Abraham should retire or find a new coach.

 

Abraham was always going to exposed by ANY savvy box puncher. He got away with what he did for years because he never fought anyone of any note. Abraham is a really basic slugger. He throws one punch at a time. Surveys his work. Takes out his camera. And then goes back to that high guard with zero offence. Until he starts letting his hands go he's always going to get beat up at 168. Thanks in part to the slew of box punchers there. Apart from his power he offers the best at 68 nothing.

 

Perhaps this will make some of Germany's boxers more reluctant to fight better opponents

 

Its just the difference between an A and B level fighter..

AA like Kessler, owns other B level fighters.. They just cant step it up to A class..

 

atsch

AA fought with broken Jaw.. many men would have quit. you can say fight showed some other limitations at AA but not lack of HEART. Maybe AA should not have get caught like that but he damn sure did show some guts fighting till the end.

 

Abraham in post-fight interview "Will *NOT* go back to middleweight".

 

At least he tried. And he came up into a higher weight class for the tournament. I can give him credit for this.
Some home-country-made fighters like Calzaghe never thought about going into the highest league, when there were prime American boxers available.