Has Pavlik Been Ruined By Hopkins?
October 20th, 2008
By Eric Thomas: After watching Bernard Hopkins give previously undefeated Kelly Pavlik a total boxing lesson en route to defeating him by an easy 12-round unanimous decision, I have to wonder whether or not Pavlik will ever be the same fighter again after the way he was beaten. It wasn’t just an average run of the mill type beating, this was a thorough domination from start to finish with Pavlik utterly helpless against the faster, stronger and much more nimble Hopkins. Hopkins won by the scores of 117-109, 119-106 and 118-108, but they only tell the partial story of how badly Pavlik was beaten.
He got beaten every way you could imagine – on the outside, inside and in the power game. Pavlik was just too slow and crude, and looked like he didn’t belong in the same ring with Hopkins. While Pavlik can console himself with not having lost his WBC/WBO middleweight titles, which weren’t on the line on Saturday because he was fighting at 170, the loss is perhaps even more damaging than him losing mere titles.
Being 26, 17 years younger than the 43 year-old Hopkins, it was assumed that Pavlik would be able to easily beat the older champion. After all, Pavlik was considered by many to be the best middleweight in the division bar none. However, he was never competitive against Hopkins, who hit him at will with lunging jabs, left hooks and right hands all night long. Pavlik was only effective in a couple of rounds, mostly the middle rounds, but then Hopkins easily pulled away from in the latter half of the fight.
After the fight, Hopkins walked up to Pavlik, whose face was red and beaten from having been hit so often during the fight, and tried to console him, but Pavlik looked shattered as a fighter. Hopkins told Pavlik not to let the loss destroy him as a fighter, and that he was still the best fighter at 160. However, judging by the way Pavlik looked and the way he was beaten, I’m not so sure he’ll ever be the same again.
He has future plans of fighting Arthur Abraham, the IBF middleweight champion. I’d say that’s a bad idea for Pavlik, because Abraham will no doubt have looked at this fight and will have a blue print in which to beat Pavlik. As it is, Abraham has the speed, combinations and the foot movement to prevent Pavlik from being able to get off his punches like he usually does. What Pavlik needs to do, though, is to stay away from really good fighters like Abraham, Hopkins, Paul Williams, and focus on just defending his titles against the lesser fighters in the middleweight division.
Right now, the division is the weakest it’s been in years, and even though Pavlik was totally exposed by Hopkins as a limited, straight ahead, one-dimensional fighter, Pavlik is still good enough to defend his title for a long time against the likes of John Duddy, Marco Rubio, Sebastian Zbik, David Lopez and other fighters of that ilk. Pavlik has got to stay away from the good middleweights because they’ll now know how to beat him. I’m not sure if Pavlik will ever be the same after Saturday night. It’s too bad, because he didn’t have to take this fight with Hopkins.
This was a fight that Pavlik chose to take because of the money. Believe me, he would have been much better off if he had just continued defending his title against the limited opposition in the middleweight division, making easy money, until he finally met up with a fighter that used lateral movement like Hopkins. Once that happened, Pavlik would have probably been exposed like he was on Saturday night by Hopkins, but at least it would have taken awhile for it to occur. As it is now, I think Pavlik may be ruined, his confidence shot to pieces in the same manner than Jeff Lacy’s was after his defeat to Joe Calzaghe. It’s too bad, because Pavlik had such potential.
30 Responses to “Has Pavlik Been Ruined By Hopkins?”
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Where has the Pavlik massiv disappeared to??? ha ha!
haha love that last comment…..
the only thing im saying is i hope there arnt anymore upsets this year (jc, hatton, haye)
oh a loving the british support
Q.What does Kelly Pavlik and my young son have in common?
A.In the last few days they have both been taken to school by a man over 40.
Pavlik is(or was) good but superstar material.Would he feature in any top 20 or 50 for that matter great middleweights list?
I regret to inform all of my loyal fans at this site, that I am no longer allowed to write anymore articles due to me writing a load of bullshit all of the time…oh well.
Lieberman, do you know what a mincer is? lmfao Hopkins is a legend, a timeless display!!! Lets hope KP can rebuild & Cotto for that matter. Really goes to show how good Joe is. Would love to see B Hop vs winner of JC Vs RJJ, one last dance?
hahahahahahahaahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahaahahahaha
pavlik=most over-rated fighter EVER!
Michael Lieberman………”For this writer, the most galling thing about Calzaghe, apart from his overly inflated record, is that he’s chosen to ignore his one real threat –Kelly Pavlik – in order to face the much lesser perceived opponent in Jones, while at the same time saying that Pavlik is unproven”
Ha! Ha! Ha! My 2 year old son knows more about boxing than you!! BELL END
Has anyone noticed that all the yanks have gone silent???? Not one of them is sticking up for Pavik!!! Great supporters…….NOT
calzaghe is p4p no1 inn the world. fell sorry for roy jones as he is going to get a pounding, calzaghe throws 1700 punches in 3 minutes. look out roy.
pavlik beat by an oap now yanks lets be serious joe is the boss hahahahahahahahaha
Hopkins had a great night and more power to him and Pavlik had a shocking fight two weights above his own division, which turned out to be not a very smart move anyways except financially, but don’t writr the kid off yet just like all the so-called experts have done with the “formerly great” Miguel Cotto, all the haters like to criticise a loser and praise a winner but give Pavlik a chance to redeem himself (Cotto too), if nothing else a very out of sorts KP showed a great chin taking all those shots from a rejuvenated and deserving Hopkins. I hope KP comes back and shuts a few mouths. God bless
Where is Michael Lieberman? Ha ha
Pavlik was dissapointing…hats off to hopkins big time!!!
Not surprises, Paul Williams almost had a deal to fight Pavlik but someone in his camp got smart. Paul Williams would have beaten Pavlik worse or knocked him out.
Oh what a suprise, the overated Pavlick got well and truly picked apart by the 43 year old hopkins. I mean come on Pavlick never stood a chance.. he is robotic and no where near the standard of the hopkins, Calzaghe, jones era. The only real reason he beat Jermain taylor is because the stubbern taylor is also young and inexperienced and and like an alpha male decided to stand in front of pavlick and trade punches…Doh… that is the only thing Pavlick can do. Put a smart boxer in there with him and he is nothing. I bet Joe Calzaghe is laughing right now , I know Roy jones was because you could see him in the crowd. read it and weep….JOE CALZAGHE WOULD DESTROY KELLY PAVLICK…did you get that cos i can type it again if it didnt sink into to all those bias american boxing fans heads. Any one who thought otherwise and calls themselves boxing fans should be ashamed.
HA dont believe the hype, if hopkins can do that to pavlik, then what do u think calzaghe would of done, he would of ruined him, i do hope pavlik doesnt do a lacy, calzaghe vs pavlik will definetely not happen now, HA WELL DONE HOPKINS
Boxing Proffesor what is your problem with Chad Dawson mate?? I think he comes across a decent bloke and he seems a good fighter. I totally agree though that it would be a great pay per view fight Hopkins vs Dawson
i’m no pavlik fan but what a shit article that was,it’s obvious the writer has an agenda against pavlik. it’s one thing hopkins having the tools to beat him,he borders on genius,but stay away from abraham and just fight the lesser fighters? abraham is good but not that good just to beat pavlik in a hopkins like manner.a fight between pavlik and abraham would be close.
Kelly got beat bad by B-Hop now the world can see that B-Hop is a Warrior at that game. B-Hop is a beast still and still one of the best pound4pound fighter in the Lt.Heavy Division. Now B-Hop is the man again so what’s the deal with that young guy name Chad Dawson. B-Hop should teach him a lesson to. That young punk need to be taught a lesson 1 o 1.B-Hop vs.Dawson thats the fight to see.B-Hop vs.Chad Dawson would be a great PPV. From the Boxing Professor i’m out.
I bet Pavlik’s trainer feels about 2 inches tall after his verbal tirade at Joe Calzaghe when he fought Hopkins. It begs the question now that what would have happened if Joe had fought Pavlik? I do agree with some of the comments that it depends on certain styles but Jo has always adapted well to this and come up trumps. No doubt he would do the same with Pavlick. Too often do fighters and trainers shout their mouth off too soon!
Lets not write off Kelly Pavlik though. Due to me being British I am not as narrow minded and fickle as alot of the Americans on this site. Just because of ONE loss a boxer can not go from being the “hottest prospect in boxing” to being a total bum! (same goes to Amir Kahn) They both need to learn from there mistakes and come back stronger. Just like the David Hayemaker Haye has done!!!!
Markark it is very decent of you to admit that you have maybe underestimated Joe Calzaghe. Respect to you for standing up and saying it because I like to bet not very many other people will be doing the same!!!
Im no Calazaghe fan but now i have much more respect for him than before. Pavlik was awful,slow, no power and no idea. His punches lacked any snap and he wasnt throwing any. Hopkins destroyed him even at distance!! when pavlik was in his range he didnt use it. Great display by Hopkins but pavlik calling out calzaghe… he would of had no hope.. calzghe is three times faster than hopkins may be now i will start to believe calzaghe is as great as some think!! were soon find out.
Why do people keep saying JC wud have done the same to Pavli. Styles make fights. B-Hop gor beat twice by Taylor who got beat twice by pavlik who got dominated by B-Hop. This is beacause of the different styles.
joe calzaghe would give a similar boxing lesson to pavlik as hopkins did
Pavlik should learn to walk before he can run! R.I.P.
“Believe me, he would have been much better off if he had just continued defending his title against the limited opposition in the middleweight division, making easy money” – Hypocrites, didnt all you yanks slate JC for apprently fighting limited fighters?
HA HA HA HA HA HA come on then you yanks now tell me that Pavlik would knock out calzaghe!!!?!?!?!?
It seems Calzaghe was right about Pavlik being untested. The comments from Dan Ambrose insinuating Calzaghe was ducking Pavlik now look just what they are. Anti brit bias.