Pavlik, Mike Jones, and Rigondeaux could be on Pacquiao-Margarito undercard

By Chris Williams: Former WBC/WBO middleweight champion Kelly Pavlik (36-2, 32 KO’s) could be one of the big names on the undercard of the November 13th title fight between Manny Pacquiao and Antonio Margarito at the Cowboys Stadium, in Arlington, Texas. Top Rank promoter Bob Arum is interested in putting together an impressive undercard for that fight and Pavlik is one of the names that could get a chance at this high visibility card. Besides Pavlik, there’s also a possible fight between unbeaten welterweight contender Mike Jones (22-0, 18 KO’s) and Jesus Soto Karrass (24-3-3, 16 KO’s).

Although I like Jones as a fighter, I’m bored by this match-up. I’ve already seen Karrass get beaten several times by less than impressive fighters and it’s not interesting seeing him get put in with a monster puncher like Jones. This has mismatch written all over it. I’d rather see Jones put in with someone good for a change, someone that actually has a chance to beat him.

Jones is a good fighter, but really flawed as well. I want to see the guy pushed instead of put in with more fodder that he can pump his record against.

29-year-old super bantamweight Rigondeaux could be matched against either Bernabe Concepcion or Ricardo Cardoba. I just finished watching Concepcion get easily beaten in two rounds by Juan Manuel Lopez recently, and I don’t want to see Concepcion getting destroyed in one or two rounds again.

If they’re going to find an opponent for Rigondeaux, I suppose Cordona is the better option of the two. I’m not all that impressed with Cordoba since seeing him stopped in the 11th round by Bernard Dunne in March 2009. If Dunne can stop Cordoba, then he has no chance against Rigondeaux.

But given how weak and empty this division is of major talent and fighters that are known by the boxing public, Cordoba is probably the best we can expect under the limited circumstances.

Pavlik, 28, is coming off of a 12 round decision loss to Sergio Martinez in April, and because of that, you got to expect that Arum is going to be matching Pavlik weak to try and get his confidence back. I’ve already seen Pavlik in a number of mismatches in the past couple of years and I’m not interested in paying to see him on the undercard if it’s not a competitive fight. The main event between Pacquiao and Margarito already has mismatch written all over it. I’d hate to pay $49.95 and have both the main event and the co-main event being mismatches.

If they’re going to put Pavlik on the card, I want to see Pavlik against someone like Gennady Golovkin, Anthony Mundine, Hassan N’Dam N’Jikam, Dmitriy Pirog or Daniel Jacobs. There’s no way on earth that Arum will be putting Pavlik in with those fighters. What will probably see is Pavlik put in with either a straight 2nd tier middleweight or a fringe contender like Enrique Ornelas, John Duddy or Lujuan Simon. In other words, Pavlik will be matched soft so that he doesn’t get beaten once again. That’s not interesting to see Pavlik fight against guys that we know he can beat.

It’s different now. He’s been exposed twice. Know one is going to buy it if he’s put in with easy fodder that will fall over after the first punch.

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