Kelly Pavlik

Can Pavlik Win a 12-round Boxing Match With Calzaghe?

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calzaghe656461.jpgBy Sean McDaniel: While I was watching undefeated WBC/WBO middleweight champion Kelly Pavlik (34-0, 30 KOs) dispatch his latest challenger Gary Lockett in the 3rd round on Saturday night, I noticed that Pavlik seemed to lacking in both speed and boxing skills in the fight, something that would likely be exposed if he were to step it up a couple of notches against a much better fighter than Lockett. This in fact might be about to happen, as Pavlik has been pressing hard for a bout against the undefeated super middleweight champion from Wales Joe Calzaghe (45-0, 32 KOs). As of now, nothing has been ironed out between Calzaghe’s promoter Frank Warren and the promoter of Pavlik, Bob Arum, but both parties on working hard at trying to come to an agreement that would be suitable to both fighters.

Pavlik, as good as he looked against a very limited Lockett on Saturday night, has no idea what he’s about to be getting himself into by facing Calzaghe. In watching Pavlik, he has none of the boxing skills of a fighter like super middleweight Mikkel Kessler or even someone like light heavweight Bernard Hopkins, arguably the two toughest opponents of Calzaghe’s long 15-year boxing career.

Pavlik-Calzaghe: Is The Timing Wrong For This Bout?

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pavlik62453.jpgBy Michael Lieberman: As much as boxing fans may want to see a potential bout between the undefeated WBC/WBO middleweight champion Kelly Pavlik (34-0, 30 KOs) and equally undefeated super middleweight/light heavyweight champion Joe Calzaghe (45-0, 32 KOs), it may not come about judging from the recent comments of the 36 year-old Calzaghe’s promoter Frank Warren. So far, he’s held off making a commitment for Calzaghe to take on Pavlik for a bout that would mean a huge payday for bout, likely eclipsing anything that either fighter has done previously by far. There was talk of Pavlik wanting to get back into the ring as early as October for a bout with Calzaghe, or possibly Jones. Apparently, Calzaghe’s camp isn’t interested in that date, and prefers Nov 15th.

Besides dates that still need to be worked over, there’s also a question whether Calzaghe would rather prefer to fight Roy Jones Jr. instead. Calzaghe’s own views have seemed to have been lost in all of the hoopla with the recent talks of Pavlik’s promoter Bob Arum meeting with Frank Warren, the promoter of Calzaghe. In the past, Calzaghe has made it clear that he prefers to fight Roy Jones Jr., a fighter obviously on the downside of his career at age 39.

Pavlik-Calzaghe: Bet On Joe Choosing Roy Jones Jr.

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pavlik44242.jpgBy Michael Lieberman: Now that WBC/WBO middleweight champion Kelly Pavlik (34-0, 30 KOs) has dispatched with the ugly business of his easy title defense over Gary Lockett last Saturday night, we can now move onto the business of selecting Pavlik’s next opponent. As of now, Pavlik, including much of the world, prefers that super middleweight Joe Calzaghe be he his next opponent. The reason is simple: Calzaghe is one of the most popular boxers in the world, having stayed unbeaten during his entire career and holding onto a piece of the super middleweight title for over 10 years without so much as getting a scratch.

Granted, most of those title defenses have come against less than stellar opposition in comparison to the high quality fighters that exist in the super middleweight division today, but so what? Calzaghe did what he had to do, even if it was against softer opposition.

Pavlik Destroys Lockett

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pavlik5653.jpgBy Michael Lieberman: Just as I expected, undefeated WBC/WBO middleweight champion Kelly Pavlik (34-0, 30 KOs) wiped the deck with his Welsh challenger Gary Lockett (30-2, 21 KOs) dropping him three times and knocking him out in the 3rd round of their scheduled 12-round bout tonight at the Boardwalk Hall, in Atlantic City, New Jersey. Going into the fight, next to nobody gave Lockett much of any chance at pulling off the upset. As it turned out, most people were right as completely obliterated his over-matched opponent.

After a fairly close first round, Pavlik got serious in the 2nd round, serving Lockett up with a number of hard right hands to the head and body. One particular hard right hand to the midsection of Lockett caused him to take a step back, at which point Pavlik landed a finishing right hand that dropped Lockett to one knee.

Wright Wants De La Hoya & Pavlik: Is He Dreaming?

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wright646462.jpgBy Scott Gilfoid: In perhaps a sign of wishful thinking on his part, former IBF/WBA/WBC/WBO light middleweight champion Ronald “Winky” Wright (51-4-1, 25 KOs) mentioned on Wednesday night’s ESPN boxing telecast that he’s interested in fighting only big fights, and has both Oscar De La Hoya and WBC/WBO middleweight champion Kelly Pavlik. The main problem with Wright’s dream fights, however, is that at age 36, he isn’t a media draw like De La Hoya or Pavlik, and isn’t someone that they’d likely be interested in fighting at this point.

Wright hasn’t helped himself, for that matter, by staying away from boxing for the past year after his 12-round unanimous decision loss to Bernard Hopkins in July 2007. It was a close fight, but like many of Wright’s fights, it wasn’t particularly exciting to watch. Even before that, ignoring his win over a come backing Ike Quartey, Wright had fought to a 12-round draw with Jermain Taylor in June 2006. Many people felt that Wright was extremely fortunate to get a draw out of that fight, for he appeared to have lost by the fight by many accounts by at least a round or two. However, all of that could possibly be ignored by fighters like Pavlik and De La Hoya, if Wright had a history of being in exciting fights.

Could Pavlik Have Found Any Worse Opponent Than Lockett?

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pavlik5437.jpgBy Michael Lieberman: As this Saturday’s bout between WBC/WBO middleweight champion Kelly Pavlik (33-0, 29 KOs) and his badly out-matched challenger Gary Lockett (30-1, 21 KOs), few fans are seeing this fight as being a competitive one. Indeed, Pavlik is currently a 10-1 favorite over the once-beaten Lockett and it’s getting hard for people to see this fight as being anything then what it is – a horrible mismatch of the grandest proportions.

It’s disappointing that of all the potential opponents that Pavlik could have chosen in the WBC & WBO, he selected from the bottom of the division, taking a fighter completely unproven against any top level opposition. It would seem that Pavlik, if he wanted an easy fight, he could have at least taken a fighter from the top 10 rather than a bottom feeder like Lockett. In the past few weeks, I’ve watched a number of Lockett’s fights, specifically bouts against Yuri Tsarenko, Lee Blundell and Kai Kauramaki. In each case, however, Lockett has proven to be unable to block a straight right hand thrown at him. For that matter, he’s not particularly good at blocking lefts or anything thrown his way, they all seem to get through his guard.

Pavlik-Lockett: Let This Be The Last Mismatch For Kelly

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pavlik4644644.jpgBy Michael Liberman: If you’re like me, you’re hoping that this Saturday’s bout between WBC/WBO middleweight champion Kelly Pavlik (33-0, 29 KOs) and Gary Lockett (30-1, 21 KOs) is the last of its kind for Pavlik, because this fight isn’t bringing any kind of suspense or drama to the expectations of most boxing fans. Pavlik 26, was looking previously at a good payday against a John Duddy, an unbeaten Irish middleweight who’s popular on the East coast, but that fight fell through when Duddy took a brutal pounding in a tune-up fight and received multiple cuts over both eyes.

Without much time to seek a popular alternative fighter, Pavlik was left facing the Lockett, a 31 year-old fighter from Wales, who has drifted through a 12-year professional boxing career without having faced one credible opponent until now. Lockett’s record, a fine 30-1, would have you believe that he’s one of the top middleweights in the sport, perhaps good enough to defeat Pavlik even. However, as the saying goes, “all that glitters isn’t gold,” and in Lockett’s case he’s more of a case of fool’s gold than the real genuine article.

Lockett-Pavlik This Saturday

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pavlik44333.jpgBy Scott Gilfoid: This Saturday Welsh fighter Gary Lockett (30-1, 21 KOs) will be in the toughest fight of his career when he goes up against WBC/WBO middleweight champion Kelly Pavlik (33-0, 29 KOs) in a title fight at the Boardwalk Hall, in Atlantic City, New Jersey. Nothing on Lockett’s career record would appear to suggest that he’ll do anything other than losing badly to the 26 year-old Pavlik, who is not only more powerful but has also faced the much stiffer competition. Lockett’s trainer Enzo Calzaghe would have you believe otherwise, saying repeatedly this week that Lockett will shock the world when he pulls and upset over Pavlik.

However, Enzo Calzaghe isn’t the one that has to go out and fight Pavlik, and no matter how many times he says that Lockett has the ability to win, there’s few people buying into his bold talk. Lockett, 31, has reportedly been sparring often with his stable mate Enzo Maccarinelli, a cruiserweight, in hopes that this will prepare Lockett for the big shots coming in at him from Pavlik this Saturday.

Pavlik-Lockett: Does Gary Have Any Chance?

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By Michael Liberman: As the fight nears closer, not much if any fans or experts alike are giving middleweight challenger Gary Lockett (30-1, 21 KOs) much of a chance at defeating WBC/WBO middleweight champion Kelly Pavlik (33-0, 29 KOs), whom they see as winning the fight by a likely early knockout scenario. On the face of it, it hardly seems to be fair to Lockett, who hasn’t lost a bout in six years. Though he’s faced the much softer competition, Lockett’s power is very real judging by the impressive knockouts I’ve seen him put together in the past few years. He perhaps may not punch quite as hard as Pavlik, then again who does? But he still punches as hard if not harder than any of Pavlik’s other opponents he faced thus far in his short career.

Pavlik vs. Lockett: Failing To Ignite Fan Interest

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pavlik554433.jpgBy Scott Gilfoid: Up to now, WBO/WBC middleweight champion Kelly Pavlik’s (33-0, 29 KOs) upcoming June 7th bout challenger Gary Lockett (30-1, 21 KOs), from Wales, has barely registered a blip on the radar screen with most fans, most of whom could care less watching Pavlik likely destroy the 15th ranked WBC contender Lockett. Few people give the fighter from Wales much of any chance at pulling off the upset over Pavlik, which seems to have had the effect of creating a kind of mosquito repellent for the fans when it comes to discussing this fight.

In fairness to Pavlik, I suppose he was due to for an easy fight sooner or later, having fought a virtual murderer’s row of hard punchers in his last four fights, defeating Jose Luis Zertuche, Edison Miranda and Jermain Taylor twice. Before that, Pavlik had defeated Fulgenico Zuniga in 2005. That said, it’s still not quite appealing to see Pavlik go up against a fighter as green, and with a record as inflated as Lockett’s record. Essentially, Lockett has fought his entire career against C-class fighters, wasting his entire 12 year career fighting nothing but lower level opposition. In a way, he’s like a real life Rocky Balboa, who spends his time fighting mainly bums and then lucks out by getting a title shot against Apollo Creed.