Pavlik-Espino: If Kelly loses he’s pretty much finished
December 17th, 2009
By Eric Thomas: World Boxing Council/WBO middleweight champion Kelly Pavlik has a fight coming up against little known Miguel Angel Espino this Saturday night in Youngstown, Ohio. This is a fight that hardly any one wants to see, other than die hard Pavlik and Espino fans. Pavlik is only two fights removed from his one-sided loss to 43-year-old Bernard Hopkins. That loss was a huge blow for Pavlik’s career, because many people expected that Pavlik would have little problem with Hopkins and would knock him out.
It doesn’t make Pavlik look good that his hand suddenly heeled fast enough for him to go ahead and still fight in December. Espino was brought out, some would say ‘hand picked,’ for Pavlik to look good against and not get beaten again. Let’s hope that Pavlik does look good for his sake, because if he loses to Espino on Saturday night, it might very well be finished as a fighter.
Sure, Pavlik could fight on but if he can’t get by a fighter like Espino, a relatively light puncher with halfway decent boxing skills, then it would be a bad sign for Pavlik. The middleweight division is improving day by day, with fighters like Daniel Jacobs, Matthew Macklin and Gennady Golovkin moving up quickly to challenge for titles in the near future.
If Pavlik struggles and losses against the likes of Espino, it could be a signal that Pavlik’s day as the top dog at middleweight will have been finished after two years at the top. Pavlik defeated Jermain Taylor in 2007 to win the WBC/WBO middleweight titles. It was thought then that Pavlik would be an exciting champion and would defend the titles for a long time to come. However, as a champion, Pavlik has been a disappointment, beating fighters like Gary Lockett, Rubio and fighting Taylor and Hopkins in non-title fights.
Espino isn’t a big hitter, and is more of a boxer/puncher. He should be way in over his head in this fight, but then people said the same thing about Hopkins. If Espino uses his boxing skills, then he has a chance of beating Pavlik. However, if Pavlik loses this fight, his future will look bleak.
Prediction: Pavlik by 8th round stoppage.
***
Also on the same card:
Vanes Martirosyan vs. Willie Lee – Martirosyan is a slugger with poor defense. He tends to get hit flush a lot and fade in his fights. He’s made some inroads with his defense and learned how to box more, but he still gets hit way too much for his own good. He’s still good enough to beat Lee.
Prediction: Martirosyan by 5th round stoppage.
Nehomar Cermeno vs. Alejandro Valdez – Cermeno (18-0, 10 KO’s), the interim WBA bantamweight champion, is a wild puncher who throws massive amounts of shots, misses many of them, but overwhelms his opponents. Defeated Cristian Mijares by a controversial decision 12 round split decision in March 2009. I personally thought that Mijares easily won the fight. In their rematch, Cermeno appeared to edge Mijares by a couple of rounds in beating him by a 12 round decision in September. Once again, the scores were fairly lopsided. Cermeno is much too busy for Valdez.
Prediction: Cermeno by a 12 round decision.
Humberto Soto vs. Jesus Chavez – This is another mismatch. Although Chavez was at one time a great fighter with excellent power, at 37, Chavez doesn’t appear to have it anymore. He’s been defeated in his last two fights to Michael Katsidis and David Diaz and probably eight years removed from the prime of his career. Soto (49-7-2, 32 KO’s) is just too young, too strong and too much of a better fighter for Chavez to have much of any chance in this fight.
Prediction: Soto by 5th round TKO
Tags: Martirosyan vs. Lee, Martirosyan-Lee, Pavlik vs. Espino, Soto vs. Chavez, Soto-Chavez ,Humberto Soto, Vanes Martirosyan10 Responses to “Pavlik-Espino: If Kelly loses he’s pretty much finished”
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I’ve been saying this for 2 years. The one, two will take you only so far. Use the jab and mean it! Hook to the head and body and this one dimensial fighter will add a new one.
The next six months should answer all of the questions people have about Pavlik. Arum after this fight sat. night you need to step in and hire a top trainer for Pavlik and start making the fights that people want to see. IMO you have done a shameful job with this fighters career after he became champ. With a top trainer you get better with each fight, you don’t just stay the same. ” Double up on the jab and throw the right hand” thats about the only thing that I have heard Jack Loew tell Pavlik. There’s never a plan b because Loew doesn’t have one. Loew depends on Pavlik’s toughness and power to win each fight, sometimes it takes more than that.
I’d like Pavlik to leave this last year or so behind him and move on from the Hopkins loss. He’s an interesting fighter, and, although one dimensional, pretty talented. If after this he takes on some big names (Williams, Froch, etc.) I think he’ll gain back the respect he deserves.
Go Kelly!
isnt kelly a girls name?
pavlik will k.o. espino inside of 7. if kelly’s next fight isn’t against williams, i’ll be upset. that’s a good match-up. kelly will have problems with paul williams’ movement; williams will have problems with pavlik’s power. classic match-up.
pavlik’s loss to hopkins wasn’t his fault. bernard was just doing a little legacy polishing. it wasn’t personal, just business. bernard was masterful that night, plain and simple.
Pavlik is ducking any real competition.If he loses this fight he should think about retiring.Once the Middle weights get champs face any real talent they always resort to fighting chumps.Taylor had a tough fight with Winky so in his next 2 fights he goes after Ouma and Spinks.Pavlik gets schooled by B-Hop so he fights Lockett and Rubio and now this tamato can.
What a Joke.Bob Arum should be locked up for theft trying to put this fight on PPV.
Mark it’s obvious your from Youngstown defending Pavlik the way you are. You can make all the excuses you want but Hopkins destroyed him. Since then he backed out of the Williams fight twice but was healthy enough to fight another tomatoe can two weeks after his scheduled fight with Williams. That’s pathetic!
Arthur Abraham was going to downhill pavlik’s career in a rapid tempo, but pavlik sensed it ahead of time and took a planet cross detour.
It appears that the popular thing to do is jump on the anti-Pavlik bandwagon. Pavlik took the Hopkins fight because Paul Williams dodged him at that time. Check into it, it’s true. Kelly had bronchitis and an injured arm for the Hopkins fight. I think he learned a lesson, but he definately wasn’t healthy for the fight. Pavlik is from Youngstown like myself, and people from here have heart, and guts, more so than most people can claim. I say, keep doubting him, it gives him the spark he needs.