By Jim Dower: WBC/WBO middleweight champion Kelly Pavlik (36-1, 32 KO’s) missed on a big fight with Paul Williams last year, and had to settle for a fight against number #3 WBC contender Miguel Espino in December. However, with Espino taken care of in an easy 5th round TKO, Pavlik, 27, can now focus on taking a live threat like Williams or possibly Sergio Martinez for his next fight. Pavlik missed a lot of action last year because of a nagging staph infection on his left hand that kept him out of action for 10 months in 2009 and limited his title defenses to only two for the entire year.

There is talk that Pavlik could fight a unification bout against World Boxing Association middleweight champion Felix Sturm (33-2-1, 14 KO’s). That fight might not be a huge one in the United States because fans aren’t too familiar with Sturm other than his failure to beat Oscar De La Hoya in 2004. Since that time, Sturm has fought almost exclusively in his adopted country of Germany.

It would be a good fight for Pavlik in that he could possibly pick up another title in the process, but it would be a fight that might not thrill many boxing fans in the United States. Since winning the WBC/WBO middleweight title against Jermain Taylor in 2007, Pavlik hasn’t had too many appealing fights.

Fans thought that Pavlik, with his exciting style of fighting, would naturally be going after the most thrilling opponents while defending his titles. Instead, fans have had to be content with Pavlik fighting fighters like Gary Lockett, Marco Antonio Rubio, Espino, a needless rematch with Taylor and a fight against 43-year-old Hopkins, which Pavlik lost by a lopsided 12 round decision. During this time, Pavlik missed out on fights against Sergio Mora and Paul Williams because of his staph infection on his hand.

Boxing fans would appear to be more interested in seeing Pavlik fight the better known Williams at least in the U.S. rather than Sturm. However, Williams is a dangerous fighter who throws a lot of punches. You could understand why this fight might not end up getting made because of his busy style of fighting.

But if Pavlik doesn’t fight Williams, I’d hope that he would at least fight someone like Sergio Martinez rather than Sturm or another fighter. For me, I see the Sturm fight as another fairly safe fight for Pavlik, because Sturm has little power and mostly just throws jabs and few power shots.