By Dan Ambrose: On today’s Steve Bunce Boxing Hour show, Kelly Pavlik’s trainer revealed that Pavlik is interested in fighting a rematch against Bernard Hopkins, but that if the fight takes place, it will have to be at 160 and not 170 or 175. Last time, Pavlik had to put on 10 pounds and move up to 170, which left him slow and lethargic at that weight. Hopkins, used to fighting at 175, easily took off the extra five pounds and ended up giving Pavlik a real licking, beating him soundly by a 12-round unanimous decision.
Pavlik didn’t lose his middleweight titles in the fight because the fight took place at a 170 pound catch-weight, but he still lost a heck of a lot in credibility and respect from many boxing fans. In hindsight, it was probably a foolish move for Pavlik to give away so much by agreeing to fight Hopkins at 170, because it was a weight that would be bound to give Pavlik problems because he wasn’t use to fighting at that heavy a weight.
At the day of the fight, Pavlik came into the fight at 171, only one pound over the 170 pound catch-weight, whereas Hopkins reportedly re-hydrated up to 187, which gave him a 16 pound weight advantage. As such, Hopkins was pretty much a cruiserweight going up against a slender light heavyweight in Pavlik.
If that wasn’t bad enough, Pavlik had injured his elbow in training and went through with the fight anyway. Likewise, he also had a fever of 111 according to Leow, four days before the fight and had taken the fight despite not feeling his best. Little wonder that Pavlik lost the fight and didn’t look like himself.
The big question is would Hopkins be willing to strip down to 160 to fight a rematch with Pavlik? It would seem only fair because Pavlik did the moving for him and met him practically at his normal weight class. If Hopkins is sporting, he would agree to move down to 160 to make the fight and prove that he’s the better man at Pavlik’s normal weight class, when he’s feeling good, injury free and not suffering any illnesses. Would Hopkins be willing to do this?
My guess is no, because he already beat Pavlik as bad as he could, and in facing him a second time, he only could do worse and risk looking bad if he were to lose the fight. That’s too bad because the boxing fans are the losers because we’re kept from knowing whether Hopkins was good enough to beat Pavlik at middleweight, without a huge weight advantage, and without Pavlik suffering illnesses or injuries that will slow him down.
I think it would be in Hopkins’ best interest to take the fight anyway, because it isn’t as if he has a lot of other options available to him. Joe Calzaghe already retired, giving him no chance for a rematch. Hopkins has already beaten Winky Wright and Antonio Tarver, so there’s no real interest in seeing him fight those guys again.
The current light heavyweights – Hugo Garay, Zsolt Erdei, Adrian Diaconu, are totally unknown to most Americans and not the type of fighters that would bring Hopkins a good payday like the one he would be getting if he fought Pavlik in a rematch.
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