By Matt Stein: Mike Pavlik, the father of former WBC/WBO middleweight champion Kelly Pavlik, said in an interview with WFMJ-TV, as reported by Vindy.com, that the fight between Kelly Pavlik and Julio Cesar Chavez wasn’t going to be taking place, because Chavez Jr. feels he’s not ready for the fight at this point. Lee Samuels from Top Rank was contacted about this, and he said “Top Rank hasn’t called anybody. It’s a fight we’ve discussed but that’s it. It’s a fight we’d like to do and we’d like to do it in December.”

If the fight doesn’t happen, it would be a huge disappointment to a lot of boxing fans, because many of them were looking forward to this fight when it was first mentioned a couple of weeks ago. It seemed almost too good to be true, because both Chavez Jr. and Pavlik like to slug it out, and both of them have good power.

However, Chavez Jr. has been matched carefully for his entire pro career, and this seemed like an out of character match-up for him, especially when you consider that Chavez was staggered in his last fight against fringe contender John Duddy on June 26th. Chavez won the fight by a wide margin, but he was staggered in the 6th round by Duddy, who isn’t nearly the same level of puncher as Pavlik.

It was thought by many people that Chavez Jr. (41-0-1, 30 KO’s) was being brought along slowly, matched up against one B level fighter after another until his promoter Bob Arum puts him in with someone like Miguel Cotto or possibly Manny Pacquiao, and then it would result in a huge payday for all those involved.

Of course, Chavez Jr. would likely get totally destroyed when that times comes in the future, because he wouldn’t have had the kinds of fights that would prepare him for those types of quality fighters. However, by matching him against B level fighters and fringe contenders like Duddy, Chavez Jr. would have a much better chance at staying unbeaten until the one big cash out fight.

This is why it seems rather incredible and hard to believe that Arum would put Chavez Jr. in with Pavlik in a fight that wouldn’t be a huge payday, even if it does take place in the Cowboy Stadium, in Arlington, Texas. Cotto is a bigger star than Pavlik, and that is the fighter that I see Chavez Jr. being matched against in the future rather than a killer puncher like Pavlik.

Although nothing has been said officially by Top Rank about whether the fight is off between Chavez Jr. and Pavlik, I believe it is. I don’t think for a second they’re going to match Chavez against Pavlik, unless they think Pavlik has nothing left in the tank and is beatable.

As bad as Pavlik looked in losing to Sergio Martinez last April, I think Pavlik has more than enough to beat a plodder like Chavez Jr.