By Scott Gilfoid: WBC/WBO middleweight champion Kelly Pavlik (36-1, 32 KO’s) would go a long ways towards shutting up his critics if he were to step up to the plate and make a play to take Jermain Taylor’s place in the Super Six tourney. Taylor dropped out recently to take some time off from boxing after losing back to back fights by knockout against Carl Froch and Arthur Abraham. This early departure for Taylor, after group stage 1 of Showtime’s Super Six tournament, leaves a hole that needs to be filled by a top fighter.

As of now, it’s looking like that vacancy will be filled by the winner of the February fight between super middleweight contenders Sakio Bika and Allan Green. Those are two good fighters, but neither of them are as well known as Pavlik, and it would be a great opportunity for Pavlik to put his 2008 disappointing loss by then 43-year-old Bernard Hopkins behind him.

Pavlik has since beaten Marco Antonio Rubio and Miguel Espino, a couple of obscure fighters that hasn’t done much to make fans forget how badly Pavlik was dominated by Hopkins. Without the Super Six tourney, Pavlik is looking at fighting one of the following fighters next:

Felix Sturm
Sebastian Sylvester
John Duddy
Paul Williams
Sergio Martinez
Gennady Golokin
Sebastian Zbik

Pavlik would do well if he can get a fight against Paul Williams, but Pavlik twice postponed fights against Williams in the past because of a lingering staph infection on his hand. After the 2nd postponement, Williams decided to move on and fight Sergio Martinez, who he beat recently by a 12 round majority decision in December.

If Pavlik were to step into Taylor’s place and take part in the Super Six tournament, he would have the opportunity to show what he’s made of against fighters like Andre Ward, Andre Dirrell, Carl Froch, Mikkel Kessler, and Arthur Abraham. At 6’2 ½”, Pavlik would have the size to compete against those fighters. He couldn’t make the excuse that he’s too short, because Pavlik is taller than all of them.

However, Pavlik would be in great danger of being out-boxed by the likes of Ward, Kessler and Dirrell. I think those would very tough fights for Pavlik, and given how bad Pavlik looked against Hopkins, I can’t see him winning those fights. But I think Pavlik would do well against the sluggers Froch and Abraham. Those fighters are tailor made for Pavlik. He does well against fighters that come at him and try to trade shots, but he struggles against opponents that use any kind of movement.

Would Pavlik be open to fighting in the Super Six tournament? I don’t think he would. In the past, Pavlik had this to say about the Super Six tournament:

“Why would I be in that tournament when I’m a middleweight? They never asked me and I never wanted to join. Let them beat each other up. Let them ruin their careers for peanuts.”

What Pavlik seems to be missing out on is even though the money isn’t quite as good as he would get for one of his fights, he would make a bigger star out of himself if he were to take part in the tournament and come out the winner. It could be the missing ingredient to him becoming a mega star like Manny Pacquiao and Floyd Mayweather Jr.

Of course, Pavlik might lose to Ward, Dirrell and some of the other Super Six fighters, but at least he would be seen trying against notable fighters rather than lesser known ones like he’s been fighting since winning the WBC/WBO middleweight titles against Taylor in 2007. Pavlik has beaten Marco Antonio Rubio, Gary Lockett and Miguel Espino, as well as Taylor again in a rematch.