By Eric Thomas: Unbeaten super middleweight contender Edwin Rodriguez (22-0, 15 KO’s) called out former WBC/WBO middleweight champion Kelly Pavlik (40-2, 34 KO’s) and former WBC light heavyweight champion Jean Pascal (26-2-1, 16 KO’s) last night following the 27-year-old Rodriguez’s 8th round TKO victory over the hard hitting Jason Escalera (13-1-1, 12 KO’s) in an HBO televised bout at the MGM Grand at Foxwoods Resort, in Mashantucket, Connecticut.

Rodriguez, #3 WBC, #4 IBF, #8 WBA, said this after the fight as quoted by ESPN “We want Kelly Pavlik. I’m ready. [Jean] Pascal is a good friend, but this is business. If he wants to get it on, I’m down as well.”

Rodriguez had little problems with Escalera, hurting him with big shots while doing a good job of evading his best punches by moving around the ring.

It was a good fight for Rodriguez but you have to look at the caliber of opponent that he was facing. This was yet another less than dangerous opponent for Rodriguez and that kind of took away a lot from his victory. Rodriguez needs a big win over a contender with some talent for boxing fans to take notice of him. His previous win over the hard hitting Don George earlier this year was a good victory but still not enough to get Rodriguez in the minds of boxing fans.

A fight against Pavlik, #3 WBO, #7 WBA, #9 IBF, #9 WBC, is exactly what Rodriguez needs for him to get his name out there for boxing fans to know. However, getting Pavlik and his promoter Bob Arum to agree to a fight against Rodriguez might be all but impossible to do though. Rodriguez is a big super middleweight and reportedly rehydrated all the way up to 187 lbs last night, and besides that Rodriguez moves well around the right and has good boxing skills.

This would be like Pavlik facing a more mobile version of Bernard Hopkins, a fighter that easily beat Pavlik four years ago by a lopsided 12 round decision. I find it nearly impossible to imagine that Arum would agree to let Pavlik fight Rodriguez, even if Pavlik wanted this fight, which I don’t think he does.

As far Pascal, Rodriguez isn’t going to get that fight either. Pacal hasn’t fought since May of 2011, and was supposed to be fighting IBF light heavyweight champion Tavoris Cloud for his title but things have been going badly with Pascal suffering an injury that caused the cancellation of their August fight. Who knows when Pascal will be ready to fight again, but you can be that when he does return to the ring it won’t be against Edwin Rodriguez.