By Eric Thomas: WBC/WBO middleweight champion Kelly Pavlik’s trainer Jack Loew told Steve Bunce’s Boxing Hour that Pavlik is looking at probably facing undefeated light middleweight contender John Duddy, but only if Pavlik can get by his WBC mandatory Marco Antonio Rubio this Saturday night at the Chevrolet Centre, in Youngstown, Ohio.
Pavlik 26, will be fighting in front of a large home crowd and looking to impress, hoping to make people forget his humiliating defeat by 43-year-old Bernard Hopkins in October. Loew, apparently, had a number of excuses why Pavlik lost to Hopkins on that night, saying “He had a 111 temperature on the Tuesday before the fight” and that Pavlik had an elbow injury both of which effected his performance against the veteran Hopkins.
However, as one-sided as the fight turned out to be, it’s highly doubtful that Pavlik could have won the fight even if he had been 100% and fought in front of his adoring fans in Youngstown, Ohio. However, excuses are typical from a fighter and his trainer after a fight, a way for them to partially redeem themselves in the minds of their fans without having to go back and fight the opponent again.
Pavlik, I’m sure, would be interested in fighting Hopkins again no matter how one-sided the original fight was, but it’s doubtful that his trainer and promoter would be open to that idea. But it would be interesting to see would happen if Hopkins gave him a rematch, because it’s a fight certainly more appealing than a fight against Duddy or Arthur Abraham.
There’s little doubt that Hopkins is the better choice between matches against Abraham and Duddy, but unfortunately that’s a fight that will probably never take place, and for that reason, Pavlik will have to try and live with his defeat and learn from it if that’s possible.
Pavlik may have his hands full this Saturday night with Rubio, 28, who punches quite hard and has a high percentage of knockout victories on his record. Much of Rubio’s wins have come over soft opponents, but his power is very real as evidenced by his 12-round split decision victory over Enrique Ornelas in October.
Most people feel that Pavlik will have too much power for Rubio and will run him down early on, but that remains to be seen. Rubio is anything but stupid, and will be looking to avoid getting caught standing flat-footed in front of Pavlik.
The challenge for Rubio is for him to try and move often enough to keep from getting caught. Moving isn’t something he’s done before, and will be a whole new look for him, so it will be interesting to see if he’s up to the task.
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