Kelly Pavlik

By Chris Williams: It’s a fight that former middleweight champion Bernard Hopkins (48-5-1, 32 KOs) would have been at a clear disadvantage even in the prime of his boxing career, but now at 43 years-old, it’s a fight that he has almost zero chance of winning even under the best case scenario. The age, the numerous fights, the lack of work rate and his entire style – that of a counter puncher – all seem to work against Hopkins in winning this fight. Although he’ll never admit it, even if he does lose and lose badly, he just doesn’t have the skills to beat a young power puncher like Pavlik.

Perhaps for this reason, the fight hasn’t caught on with the boxing public as much as some people thought it would. It didn’t help any that Hopkins fought a dull fight against Joe Calzaghe in April, clinching often, and going down for shots that landed low and taking a long time to recover from the punches. From outward appearances, it seemed that the older Hopkins was trying to slow the fight down to a crawl so that he could get as much rest as he could for his weary body. This turned what many people had hoped would be an exciting fight into absolutely painful fight to watch, in which one had the urge to turn the channel for something more interesting to watch.

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By Sean McDaniel: I must admit first off, when I initially heard about unbeaten WBC/WBO middleweight champion fighting 43 year-old Bernard Hopkins (48-5, 32 KOs) in a non-title bout held at the catch weight of 170 lbs, I thought it was a bad decision for Pavlik because he’d easily win a dull 12-round fight. But now that I’ve had time to think it over, I’m starting to come to the belief that Hopkins may actually be able to win this fight quite handily in fact.

Pavlik, 26, perhaps the hardest puncher in the middleweight division today, doesn’t have much experience in fights that he’s had to win by the use of more technical skills. So far, he’s been able to get by with his power and heavy pressure both of which have enabled him to blast out or decision good but not great opponents like Jermain Taylor, Gary Lockett, Edison Miranda, Jose Luis Zertuche, Bronco McKart and Fulgencio Zuniga. And, with the exception of McKart, they each went right at Pavlik trying to take him out with big shots and beat him at his own game. Taylor, who had previously been stopped by Pavlik in a 7th round TKO in September 2007, tried to make some adjustments to his style and box more against him in their rematch in February 2008.

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By Jim Dower: If there was ever a fight that will likely end with a disqualification, it’s the upcoming non-title fight between unbeaten Kelly Pavlik (34-0, 30 KOs) and 44 year-old Bernard Hopkins (48-5-1, 32 KOs) on October 18th, in Atlantic City, New Jersey. In his prime, Hopkins, a champion whole held the middleweight title for 10 years, was nearly unbeatable against the mostly limited opposition he faced during that time. That, however, is over with, and he’s been on the serious decline in the past three years, losing three out of his last five fights during that stretch of time.

You could easily make the argument that Hopkins should really have four losses out of his last five fights, because many boxing fans feel that he actually lost to Winky Wright, whom he beat by a 12-round unanimous decision in June 2007. I, too, felt that Wright did enough to get the win based on his better punching in the bout. Whatever Hopkins once was as a fighter, he’s not nearly as good as he used to be, especially with his offensive capabilities.

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By Matt McGrain: Matchmaking as it was understood in the 40’s and 50’s is something of a forgotten art. Fighters were often brought along much more quickly in those days, matched against tough contenders and prospects with similar records as a matter of course. Steadily increasing quality of competition led to a strict learning curve for prospects and sharp test for established stars or those attempting to rebuild careers. The difference was very simple; the 0. “Undefeated” is the word at this time, the fewer defeats a fighter has on his record, the “more elite” that fighter is said to be. A loss can turn a contender with TV support to a gatekeeper all but overnight, and later in a fighter’s career a loss can de-rail title aspirations entirely – just look at what has happened to the prospects of Junior Witter in recent weeks.

Don’t blame promoters and don’t blame fighters – this is just a sign of the times. Fighters fight less, so of course losses come to mean more. With fighters having become more protected in such a climate, undefeated boxers have become more common later in their careers and undefeated boxers are easier to market. That is just the way things are. But it wasn’t always this way . Losing used to be expected. With one title to fight for in fewer divisions prospects were running into stiffer competition much sooner.

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By Jim Dower: In a bit of disappointing news, undefeated middleweight champion Kelly Pavlik (34-0, 30 KOs) will be moving up to 170 lbs to face 43 year-old Bernard Hopkins on October 18th, in Atlantic City, New Jersey. Pavlik, 26. had been hoping to land fights against a variety of opponents, such as Joe Calzaghe, Sergio Mora, Winky Wright and Paul Williams. However, Pavlik’s promoter, Bob Arum, was unable to work out deals with any of them, leaving only Hopkins as the best option for a big money fight for Pavlik. Unfortunately for boxing fans, this is a fight that will likely be a less than thrilling match up given Hopkins’ advanced age, which by the time the fight occurs in October, Hopkins will be almost 44 years-old.

Besides the age factor, Hopkins, as he proved in his last fight with Calzaghe in April, isn’t an opponent that will stand and trade shots with Pavlik like most boxing fans are hoping to see in a Pavlik bout. More likely, Hopkins will stay on the outside, moving constantly, and occasionally coming inside to throw a fast 1-2 combination followed by a clinch. In other words, a grind it out type of fight similar to the old style of heavyweight John Ruiz.

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