By Mark Vester
While promoter Bob Arum of Top Rank is close to finalizing a deal to match WBC/WBO middleweight champion Kelly Pavlik against WBO welterweight champ Paul Williams on September 27, he says that HBO should have forced Joe Calzaghe to fight Pavlik instead of allowing him to fight Roy Jones Jr. on pay-per-view.
Arum told boxing scribe Robert Morales that HBO is recycling the same fighters over and over and hurting the sport in the process.
"I think that's what boxing is suffering from," Arum said. "One guy (Calzaghe) is looking for his last fight and the other guy (Jones) should have retired a couple of years ago after he got knocked out. They are recycling everything and that doesn't help the sport. What HBO should have done is insisted Calzaghe fight the younger guy who has put himself there by hard work and has an upside for the future. And that's Pavlik. Where is this fight going? If Calzaghe wins, he retires. If Jones wins, who gives a f*ck."
Pavlik will meet Williams at the Boardwalk Hall in Atlantic City. Steve Kim of MaxBoxing/BoxingScene.com broke the news on Thursday night when he received confirmation from Arum that a deal was reached. Dan Goossen, who promotes Williams, tells Morales that he's going over the deal with Williams and expects for the fight to get done.
"We're close," said Goossen. "We're making tremendous progress. I should have things done shortly."
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