By Tom Stokes: When Kelly “Ghost” Pavlik (35-1, 31 KO’s) turned pro in 2000, he went through opponent after opponent knocking them out, and by the time he met Jermain Taylor (28-3, 17 KO’s) he had amassed a formidable record of 31 victories only going the distance 3 times.
After he destroyed Jermain Taylor and won the WBC/WBO middleweight titles his stock went through the roof, a middleweight with raw punching power, he had boxing fans everywhere excited, but when he took the fight against Bernard Hopkins (49-5, 32 KO’s), he wasn’t just beaten, he was destroyed, outclassed in every department against a fighter most thought had seen better days. Whenever I replay that fight, one name springs to mind Jeff Lacy (25-3, 17 KO’s).
When Lacy burst onto the super middleweight division he was knocking pretty much all of his opponents out, and won the IBF title in the process, but then he made the decision to fight Joe Calzaghe (46-0, 32 KO’s), a fight he was supposed to ease through, many people had Calzaghe as the underdog, and Lacy predicting he would knock Calzaghe out, but once they got in the ring, things changed drastically, Lacy went twelve rounds taking a hellacious beating at the hands of Calzaghe, Lacy never even got started during the fight.
Since the Calzaghe fight Lacy hasn’t done much of anything, most of this win coming by majority decisions against B level opponents, and losing his fight to Taylor and just recently being schooled by future hall of famer Roy Jones Jr (54-5, 40 KO’s), Lacy doesn’t appear to have much of anything in the tank now.
But the question remains will Pavlik suffer the same fate as Lacy? since the Hopkins fight he beat Marco Antonio Rubio and before that Gary Lockett, two unspectacular journeymen, and Pavlik dispatch these guys by knock out, he publicly slated the super six tournament recently, and is now suffering from a nagging staph injury while trying to nail down a date for a fight with Paul Williams (37-1, 27 KO’s), Pavlik’s career seems to be coming to an abrupt halt, if he can’t get past Williams there’s not much hope for him in becoming great middleweight boxer (which is what he was hyped up to be).
Williams is a slick boxer, and a fight against Pavlik may have a similar outcome for Pavlik as the Hopkins fight, yes Pavlik’s got great punching power but that’s about it when you break it down, power alone only works against lesser fighters, Williams has power and speed and speed kills. Pavlik’s a flat footed fighter and if he doesn’t make changes to his style Williams will outbox him all day long.
Pavlik’s career is at the crossroads now, beat Williams and get back on top, lose and face the same fate as Lacy who is now entering the final stages of his career at a young age for a boxer, Lacy was considered by most as the next Mike Tyson (50-6, 44 KO’s), a young knock out kid, but once beaten by Calzaghe he’s now just considered as a B level fighter by most boxing critics and fans alike (probably the same people who rated Lacy before the Calzaghe fight), and before his fought Calzaghe he had so much hype to his name.
And that’s what I blame it on, the “hype” young boxers are receiving today before they have even shown there worth, it happened to Lacy and its happening to Pavlik, it’s up to the fans to ignore the “hype” young boxers are receiving today (and the rubbish the promoters talk), and stop praising fighters as world class before they have even reached that status, Amir Khan’s (21-1, 15 KO’s) another example before he got knocked out by Bredis Prescott (21-1, 18 KO’s), (but Khan’s champ now and that’s a different story)
I personally don’t see Pavlik beating Williams; I think he’s going to end up suffering the same career fate as Lacy; his only chance at redemption is to chance his style and start proving his self and showing what he’s really worth, but whether or not that will happen is another story.
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