By Chris Williams: WBC/WBO middleweight champion Kelly Pavlik (36-1, 32 KO’s) lost a lot of his stature in the middleweight division after being badly beaten by then 44-year-old Bernard Hopkins in 2008. Pavlik has since been trying to win back fans with fights against Marco Antonio Rubio and Miguel Espino. However, those opponents didn’t have the name value to erase the image of Pavlik getting schooled by Hopkins. On April 17th, Pavlik will be facing one of the best opponents of his 10-year pro career when he faces Sergio Martinez (44-2-2, 24 KO’s) at the Boardwalk Hall, in Atlantic City, New Jersey.

Pavlik, 6’2”, will have a three inch height advantage, but Martinez will have the advantage in experience, speed and likely boxing skills. Pavlik’s promoter Bob Arum of Top Rank feels that a win for Pavlik against Martinez will redeem Pavlik in the eyes of boxing fans, and make them see him in a new light. In an article at Boxing Fan House, Arum says “I am convinced beyond any measure that we’re going to see the old Kelly Pavlik against Martinez and as soon as the public sees that, he’ll be right back on top. People will be clamoring for his [Pavlik] next fight, whether it’s Paul Williams or Lucian Bute or somebody else. People love to see knockout fighters.”

Arum is right in part about boxing fans wanting to see knockout punchers like Pavlik, but I think he’s missing the boat badly by saying that fans will be clamoring to see Pavlik against “somebody.” We’ve already seen Pavlik against somebody with his fights against Rubio, Gary Lockett and Espino, and the fans haven’t been beating down Pavlik’s door to pour praise over his head.

I just hope that if Pavlik gets by Martinez on April 17th that this doesn’t wind up as excuse to match him against fighters that boxing fans could care less about. Pavlik hasn’t had much choice in some of his defense of his title, but I think its hurt him by not facing fighters that the boxing public wants to see him against. Obviously, Pavlik’s fights against Rubio, Lockett and Espino haven’t done anything to endear him to the average fan, so hopefully Arum doesn’t match him against more fodder in the middleweight division.

I think fights against Williams or Bute would be outstanding fights, as would having Pavlik pitted against the eventual winner of the Super Six tournament. But I don’t think the boxing public will be interested in seeing Pavlik matched up against the winner of the Julio Cesar Chavez vs. John Duddy bout, something I’ve been hearing as a potential fight for Pavlik in the future. And I also doubt that fans will want to see Pavlik against fellow Top Rank fighter Winky Wright.

I think that would have been a good fight years ago, but Wright hasn’t been busy enough in the past four years and was soundly beaten by Paul Williams last year. Arum needs to start putting Pavlik in with better fighters, ones that are more popular with fans. It might be a risky thing for him to do, because Pavlik could lose like he did against Hopkins, but that’s what Arum needs to do to restore the luster that Pavlik lost in his defeat to Hopkins.

Arum says “The 168 pound guys are the middleweights of the 1980s, and I think Kelly, when he cleans out the middleweight division, will go up to 168 pounds and there is a lot of competition there.” I doubt that Pavlik will beat Williams, and I also have serious doubts about Pavlik beating Martinez on April 17th. However, if Pavlik does get to the super middleweight division, I see him having big problems with guys like Arthur Abraham, Andre Ward, Mikkel Kessler and Andre Dirrell.

Those guys aren’t fighters that can be taken out by simple 1-2 combinations and a little pressure. Pavlik is going to have to up his game and develop some more skills if he’s going to be anything other than a contender at super middleweight. I frankly don’t think he’s the best middleweight right now, and would be very surprised if he “cleans out the middleweight division” like Arum says.