What if Pavlik never dropped out of the Bute fight

I think if Pavlik came in in his normal shape he probably would have blasted Bute out of the ring. A big win over Bute would have been a huge boost for his career. It would also line him up with fights with Froch, Ward, Dirrell, etc. This is obviously speculation who knows what shape Pavlik would have been in for the fight with his alcoholism. And it isn't a sure thing he would have beaten Bute, it just seems after the fight today Pavlik had a very winnable fight that he dropped out of for a very stupid reason. Sorry haha, I always like playing the what if scenarios in boxing. i don't know, but you bring up a good match up for pavlik and bute to fight one another now, it would be a good come back fight to sell, a cross roads fight..... with pavliks power and new training, i think he'd starch bute, now that chin has been exposed in such manner.

Pavlik would have had to go to Canada, he has not been good at 168, but he would have brought to heat and could have got lucky. He must have known that he would have probably lost.

Good grief. Not only is Froch a much better fighter than Pavlik at this stage in his career, he's completely stylistically different. Does Pavlik fight with his hands by his waist barrelling forward swinging his arms like a caveman? No, he's a straight meat and potatoes guy who fights behind a jab and high guard. And he possesses nowhere near the intangibles that Froch has, nowhere near the rhythm breaking style or the unorthodoxy to trouble Bute. He has the power, sure, but so did Miranda, and he got blitzed. He was also scheduled to fight Bute in Canada, which would have had a big effect on both men's confidence levels. Bute's been exposed at the top level, but Pavlik aint top level and would find himself getting outboxed and popped by the sharp snapping lefts of Bute. The Froch fight doesn't change any of that for me.

of course all of these fighters could have beat bute, if only they would have grown some balls and put it on the line like froch does.

when you match two punchers you've got to take into consideration their chins bute could not get out of the way of the froch right hand it's disguised better than the pavlik right hand (behind two jabs or three and not much else,) but it's markedly slower and doesnt have the one punch power of kelly pavlik. i'd favor bute only because pavlik's at such a bad spot in his career. bute's clearly not an elite fighter. i have no reason to think he can breeze by any legitimate challenger. don't forget that pavlik's a naturally smaller man than froch. who's to say whether his power holds up at 168 lbs?

Pavlik would have got stopped. At 168 (and with his personal problems as of late), he doesn't have it anymore. Plus, I think it was more about Froch just being that good as opposed to Bute sucking.

Froch is a lot better than Pavlik

Pavlik would porobably beat Bute of last night. But it's all speculation. Froch is the one who destroyed him.

pavlik the drunk gets stopped by bute. butes still a damn good fighter. Bute - Froch canada, make it happen bute is not a damn good fighter he looked god awful against froch and in '08 he was stopped by liberado andrade and the ref blew it. even if you agree with the call, the guy went friggin life and death with liberado andrade

pavlik wouldn't be able to handle bute's power. when you match two punchers you've got to take into consideration their chins bute could not get out of the way of the froch right hand it's disguised better than the pavlik right hand (behind two jabs or three and not much else,) but it's markedly slower and doesnt have the one punch power of kelly pavlik. i'd favor bute only because pavlik's at such a bad spot in his career. bute's clearly not an elite fighter. i have no reason to think he can breeze by any legitimate challenger.

pavlik wouldn't be able to handle bute's power.

Froch at 168 is far better than Pavlik. Can't see Pavlik doing the same. bute would have a much easier time moving about the ring with a plodder like pavlik froch has good limey feet. much faster than they appear to be. bute would have an easier time hitting pavlik as well. froch has very subtle defensive skills. kelly digs his feet into the canvas and puts on some earmuffs and takes the shots. the only thing bute might have problems with is the right hand. his stance leaves him open to a right hand down the center. he also gives up his height. he fought froch like he was 5'9" tall. froch can punch kelly pavlik can knock a man completely senseless. he gets perfect extension with the right hand. take it away and he's got basically nothing. he's a natural 168lber at this stage in his life as well.

if carl froch fought kelly pavlik right now he'd probably knock him out and kelly has a great chin and huge power. it's hard to knock a guy like that out. froch would knock him out froch's win over bute has nothing to do with pavlik. froch is all around a much better fighter, and the styles are nothing alike.

Froch at 168 is far better than Pavlik. Can't see Pavlik doing the same.

People need to give Froch respect and stop the if Froch can beat him so can fighter x, y, z fighter x, y, z didn't beat him Froch did. I wouldn't be so sure it would have taken something special to beat Froch last night and just because Froch made it look easy does not necessarily mean someone else would. And If Froch and Pavlik where to ever fight id be confident of a Froch K.O.