By Eric Thomas: Former WBC/WBO middleweight champion Kelly Pavlik could be taking no chances of getting beaten in his next fight by taking on 2nd tier fighter Darryl Cunningham (23-2, 10 KO’s) for a tune-up fight on August 6th, according to the latest boxing news.

Pavlik was recently almost beaten by Alfonso Lopez in a truly awful fight for Pavlik. He appeared to lose the fight in the minds of many boxing fans, and looked no better than he had in losing to Sergio Martinez last year. Pavlik is hoping to fight International Boxing Federation (IBF) super middleweight champion Lucian Bute later this year in a big money fight.

It looks like Pavlik, or at least his promoter Bob Arum, isn’t willing to take chances by putting him in with a decent fighter that could show whether Pavlik has anything left. Against Lopez, Pavlik looked like a mere shadow of what he was years ago in beating Jermain Taylor in 2007.

Cunningham has a decent looking record but has built it on 2nd tier opposition. He’s not someone that will be able to give Pavlik a true test and appears to be a big step down from Lopez. If Pavlik struggles with this guy then Arum, out of a favor for Pavlik, needs to reconsider putting him in with Bute.

There is no point in putting Pavlik in with guys that are just going to box circles around him the way that Bute likely will. Pavlik does good against plodders or fighters that come straight at him. Arum should be matching Pavlik against another one of his fighters Pawel Wolak, as that would be a decent in house fight. But putting Pavlik in with no name 2nd tier guys like Cunningham is a bit of a joke. Pavlik needs to be put in with better fighters and matched against guys he has a chance of beating.