By Chris Williams: Former WBC/WBO middleweight champion Kelly Pavlik (36-2, 32 KO’s) is facing a career threatening fight against Brian Vera (17-5, 11 KO’s) next month on November 13th on the undercard of the Manny Pacquiao vs. Antonio Margarito bout at the Cowboys Stadium, in Arlington, Texas.
Vera, 28, has been selected as a confidence booster for Pavlik to try and regain his form after he was nearly drilled to pieces in his last by Sergio Martinez in April in a 12 round decision loss for Pavlik. That was a real beating that Pavlik took in that fight, and he really needs an easy mark like Vera for him to try and find his way back to the top of the middleweight division again.
Vera, a fighter with good power in his right hand, has lost four of his last five fights. This is obviously why he’s been selected to face Pavlik. Before Vera began this recent string of losses in 2008, Vera looked impressive in taking apart the 6’2” skinny middleweight Andy Lee in a 7th round TKO win.
But what followed that fight were losses to James Kirkland, Craig McEwan, Isaac Rodrigues and Maksym Bursak. I’m sure Vera never thought his career would come to this, but it appears he’s become a gate keeper opponent, someone that the promoters use to give their top fighters a little bit of a struggle but too much of one for them to have worry about them getting beaten.
Picture Vera as a lion with most of his teeth having fallen out from old age and too many wars, and that’s probably why he’s been selected for Pavlik. However, Vera does have really good power in his right hand, and Pavlik is coming off of a terrible beating at the hands of Martinez. Vera does a good job against tall and skinny fighters with slender necks that stand in front of him.
I can see Vera possibly giving Pavlik a huge beating in this fight and pulling off a big upset. Vera is going to be fighting in front of a huge Mexican crowd in the Cowboys Stadium, and they’re obviously going to be cheering every punch he lands.
Vera is going to feed off of that and try to take Pavlik’s head off. The thing is if Vera can get Pavlik bleeding around one or both of his eyes, his job will be that much easier. Pavlik is like a lamb once he gets caught. He does not fight well once he’s blinded by blood.
I don’t know too many fighters that do fight well under those conditions but Pavlik fights terribly when he’s cut. That should be a focus for Vera. He needs to land his shots around Pavlik’s eyes and try to hit him as hard as he can to either stun him or cut him.
I think if Vera can get Pavlik bleeding all over the place, he has an excellent chance of stopping him or getting a decision. For Pavlik, if he loses this fight to Vera, he’s pretty much done as a fighter. Pavlik might as well retire at that point unless he wants to become a gate keeper like Vera.
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