Will Pavlik show us anything new this time?

KP via KO! :yep

Rubio got a hard fought SD win in his last fight last Oct 08 against a medicore opponent in Enrique Ornelas.

This fight is intended to get back KP's self confidence at the same time playing out his WBC mandatory defense. The WBO belt will be at stake too.

 

Good post (the older one).

I remember back when the fight was signed we had a nice (and by nice, we actually kept it respectful even in disagreement) back and forth about how we felt the fight would play out. I told you my reasons (movement to keep Pavlik from setting, use of angles to keep him off balance, Bernard's ability to smother Kelly's offense, etc.) and you told me yours.

I still disagree with that if Kelly was 100% he would have made it a fight. Hopkins amazing attributes all play directly into Pavlik's shortcomings...this fight was more a display of that then anything else...but, its refreshing sometimes being able to hold a friendly debate like we did about the fight back then on a site like this. Too often it turns into disrespect and name calling.

I can definately respect that.

(I actually went back and looked it up...Im home sick with the flu from work, so lets just say I got some time on my hands ...here is the link http://www.eastsideboxing.com/forum/showthread.php?t=78121)

 

He might show something new, he can actually perform looking like Ali, his opponent is Rubio for God's sake.

 

If you read the thread, his camp is hinting at a 'technical' fight. I take that to mean if they get into the fight and don't feel too threatened they will work on a few things. Maybe play a bit more defensive and make Rubio come to him and open up? It is his perogative as champ to make Rubio 'take it'. I have thought this should be something he could work on in preparation for Abraham. Pound at a distance enough to win rounds and not tire himself out with punches that don't do much damage. Make Abraham come out of his shell for more than 30 seconds around. Intreguing...... Perhaps more to look forward to in this fight.

 

I had a number of good debates with various posters, and yes, that was one of them. A significant part of my prediction and analysis was based on my belief that Hops was getting close to shot. Cearly, that was not true.

I tell ya one thing that bugs me. It bugs hell out of me when posters act like all BHop did was keep moving to Kelly's left to avoid the right hand. Ya, right, like Bernard was the first guy who ever thought of thatatsch Such talk is degrading to both men.

On numerous occasions Kelly stepped left exactly like he should have. The vast majority of fighters would have ran right into one of those long left hooks KP throws, but not BHop! He just very gracefully slid away the other direction. Simply magnificent.

 

Overwhelming KO for Pavlik.

 

To be honest...one of the best things he did was actually move INTO his right, giving him an angle taking most of the power out of the rights he was able to throw. When you move away from a fighters power, you can keep a safe distance, but you can still get caught with the full brunt of his power. Hop called it smothering a fighters power when asked about him doing the same thing to Tito's left years back.

Also by doing this, it really allows a fighter to dictate when the opponent can get off that power right (or left vs Tito)...and with a fighter like Hopkins doing it, its basically allowing him...one of the best counter punchers ever...to know basically when the shot is coming.

When he asked Nazim during the 24/7 "That's one hell of a right, what are we going to do about that?" and Nazim said "Put it in the same drawer we put Trinidad's left hook in!"...and Bernard shoots that smile over to Nazim, who never even looked away from the film study going on...I knew this was going to be his gameplan.

I mean, I gotta agree with you, the tactical fight Bernard put out there was simply breathtaking. Trying to simplify it is degrading to both of them (that such a simple plan would be able to shut Kelly out AND that Bernard didnt do anything "special"...definately degrading).

 

Well, his camp has hinted at a 'technical' fight, now this.

“I’m just going to use my talent and my ability and my boxing skills [to beat Rubio],” Pavlik said. “We’re going to use angles — Rubio seems to have trouble with that — and use our hand speed.”

Angles? According to the posters on this board neither Kelly nor Jack even KNOW the word.