By Jason Kim: Former WBC/WBO middleweight champion Kelly Pavlik (36-2, 32 KO’s) be back in action next month against Alfonso Lopez (21-0, 16 KO’s) in a fight on the undercard of the Manny Pacquiao vs. Shane Mosey bout at the MGM Grand in Las Vegas, Nevada.

The fight will be the first for the 29-year-old Pavlik at super middleweight and his promoter Bob Arum is aiming for a future fight between Pavlik and IBF super middleweight champion Lucian Bute. This would be the biggest fight out there right now in the super middleweight division for Pavlik if he can keep winning and looking good.

Arum isn’t going to put Pavlik in with Bute right now because it would be foolhardy for him to do so with Pavlik still rusty from a years’ worth of inactivity. However, if Pavlik looks good in beating Lopez and can pick up two or three more wins, Arum could be ready to put Pavlik in with Bute for a good paying bout.

HBO no doubt will be interested in this fight and it would be one of the bigger ones for Bute. Thus far, Bute hasn’t had popular opponent for him to face and get anything close to what fans could consider a career defining fight. Mikkel Kessler is an option for Bute and the two will likely be facing each other soon. But once the smoke clears from that fight, Pavlik will be ready to move in and get his shots. Pavlik has to get by Lopez first, however.

Lopez is coming into the fight with little pressure on him because no one is giving him any kind of shot to beat Pavlik. He has that and the benefit of being able to study Pavlik’s recent 12 round decision loss to Sergio Martinez in putting together a plan to beat the 6’2” Pavlik. Lopez needs to use movement, speed and combinations to win. Pavlik had problems with Martinez’s combinations in the second half of their fight and seemed to run out of gas when Martinez turned it up a notch with his offensive output.