Pavlik wins! Does anybody care?

By Sam Gregory: While those of us living on the eastern seaboard are shoveling out from over two feet of snow that got dumped on us yesterday, World Boxing Council/World Boxing Organization middleweight champion Kelly Pavlik (36-1, 32 KO’s) is celebrating his fourth title defense win over Miguel Angel Espino (20-3-1, 9 KO’s). So congratulations to Kelly Pavlik for stopping Contender star Espino in five rounds.

If Pavlik keeps fighting guys like this he should be able to string at least a dozen or so title defenses together without much problem. Just like Hopkins did when he fought guys like Carl Daniels and Morrade Hakker.

And since Pavlik’s fight with Hopkins didn’t really count for anything, (no title on the line) he can start counting his title defenses with the first alphabet belt he won like, well like Hopkins did. Just to revamp, Bernard Hopkins became the undisputed middleweight champion of the world when he defeated Felix Trinidad in September of 2001.

Then, just about the time he defeated Morrade Hakker, people began talking about how Hopkins had 17 title defenses and Hakker made 18. Those same people talked about how Hopkins surpassed Carlos Monzon’s record of 14 title defenses.

I’m not saying Hopkins’ title defenses weren’t a meaningful accomplishment, I’m just saying the same people who railed against the alphabet belts, calling them “trinkets” were now championing Hopkins great accomplishment by defending his “trinkets”; people like Max Kellerman and Bob Papa among others.

I’m still not convinced that defeating Jermain Taylor is a major accomplishment for Kelly Pavlik. The first Pavlik-Taylor fight was a great fight. And stopping him in the seventh round was impressive. It’s just that since Taylor won his fight with Bernard Hopkins and not in a very impressive way, he really hasn’t had any significant accomplishments. A draw with Winky Wright, he won a UD over Kassim Ouma, a split decision over Cory Spinks than came his two loses with Pavlik. He moved up to super middleweight and got a decision over Jeff Lacy than he was faced with some real super middleweights. Guys like Carl Froch and Arthur Abraham.

The fact of the matter is, if you’re not the real deal guys like Froch and Abraham will expose you. And the more Jermain Taylor fights guys of their caliber the more he’s going to look like he’s not even in the same league as those guys; and for that matter not in the same league with just about everyone else in the “Super Six” competition.

So back to Kelly Pavlik; his big claim to fame is his two wins over Jermain Taylor. Other than the two W’s over Bernard Hopkins, Taylor’s record doesn’t impress me so Pavlik’s wins over Taylor aren’t that impressive either.

Historically speaking the middleweight division has been home to some of the greatest fighters ever to step in the ring. Until Pavlik steps up and fights someone like Chad Dawson or Paul Williams, he doesn’t impress me either.

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