Kelly Pavlik vs. Sergio Martinez in April?

By Dave Lahr: According to Dan Rafael of ESPN, WBC/WBO middleweight champion Kelly Pavlik (36-1, 32 KO’s) could be facing light middleweight champion Sergio Martinez (44-2-2, 24 KO’s) in a fight that would be taking place on April 17th. HBO could possibly have International Boxing Federation super middleweight Lucian Bute fighting in a double header. This would allow Bute more visibility so that a potential fight with Pavlik could be set up in the future.

It’s obviously a long shot because Pavlik, who looked terrible in losing to Bernard Hopkins by a 12 round decision in October 2008, might not get by Martinez if the fight ends up being made. Martinez is a crafty fighter much like Hopkins who uses movement, pot shots and fast combinations to get the better of his slower opponents.

Martinez does well against slow sluggers like Pavlik. Martinez is coming off a controversial 12 round decision loss to Paul Williams in December. Many boxing fans felt that Martinez beat Williams in that fight. It was certainly very close and Martinez seemed to take control of the bout in the later rounds. Pavlik would likely have big problems with the movement and speed of Martinez if he does end up fighting him.

Since winning the WBC/WBO middleweight titles in 2007, Pavlik has only defended the titles three times in three years against Gary Lockett, Marco Antonio Rubio and Miguel Espino. To say that Pavlik has been a disappointment as a middleweight champion would be kind. His selected opponents have not been the type and the quality that boxing fans have wanted to see.

There was hope recently that Pavlik would finally have a real challenge in fighting Paul Williams. However, that fight didn’t materialize because of a persistent staph infection on Pavlik’s left hand which caused his fight with Williams to be canceled twice. Eventually, Williams, tired of waiting for Pavlik’s hand to heal, moved on and fought Martinez instead.

Pavlik could fight Williams at some time in the future, but it doesn’t look like it’s going to happen soon. Martinez is the next best thing and hopefully this fight can get made. Pavlik will have to look a lot better than he did in his fight against 43-year-old Bernard Hopkins if he wants to beat a fighter like Martinez.

Pavlik looked one dimensional against Hopkins and was slow at shifting his feet around against the constantly moving Hopkins. Martinez moves even more than Hopkins and is faster. This could turn out to be another one-sided loss for Pavlik unless he can hurt Martinez with something big. Martinez is a southpaw and that could be a problem for Pavlik as well.

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