Margarito and Cotto fought in Vegas. Under NSAC rules it would be almost impossible to use any sort of illegal hand wraps. A representative of the commission keeps the wraps in a sealed plastic bag, and does not turn them over to the fighters team until it is time to wrap. After that the representative stands their and observes the process.
I'm not really a Froch fan, but I think there is a very good chance that Carl will be the man who finally ends the Arthur Abraham myth. Abraham has been in the ring with a grand total of two world class opponents, and struggled both times.
Miranda was world class at 160, and he damn near tore Abraham's face off. Pavlik took those same shots, and poor Edison could not buy a blink with his life savings.
Dirrell flat out humiliated Abraham. There seems to be a bit of revisionist history surrounding that fight. The revisionists say Abraham did not land much until late in the fight. Watch it again. Dirrell took many flush shots, and did not slow down.
Abraham's defense, power, and punch resistance are all over rated. Froch has a good chin, he's double tough, and he has good power, and very good stamina. If Carl fights a half way smart fight, he should win this, and look fairly good doing it.
Carl's biggest problem is that low left hand. Abraham might catch him with that short straight right of his. That punch is the single thing about AA that I think might be a bit under rated and over looked. If Carl gets caught with it, it might be "good night Irene!"
An oldie but a goodie! Danny "Little Red" Lopez versus Mike Ayala for the WBC featherweight championship. 1979 Ring Magazine fight of the year. It's on You Tube, and the video quality is fair to good.
Arthur Abraham has been in the ring with exactly two (that's 2) world class opponents. The first one tore his face half way off. The second time he got schooled, humilated, and disqualified.
This is a guy who ducked Fulgencio Zuniga so he could defend his middleweight title against the great Elvin Ayala! The same Elvin Ayala who got obliterated by David Lemiex in one round. wtf:
This is the guy who went the distance with Shannon Taylor one fight after Taylor got brutally stopped by Raymond Joval.
Same guy who went the distance with Lujaun Simon. The same Lujaun Simon who was living off Bronco McKart's left overs.
I have never understood the Arthur Abraham fetish that so many boxing fans are afflicted with. He is probably the most over rated fighter since a Sean O'Grady pre-Lopez-Gannigan.
Bute/Pavlik is not close to done, and I do not think it will happen. Just yesterday Cameron Dunkin told Dan Rafeal that Pavlik's first choice after Vera is Sergio Martinez. It does not matter what you or I think, and what Bute wants is irrelevant. Kelly Pavlik believes he lost to Martinez for all the wrong reasons, and he wants revenge.
Of course, everything depends on the weight. Pavlik started camp lighter than he has in years, and was already down to 168 a couple weeks ago. I personally would not want to be in the ring with a focused, determined, healthy, revenge hunting Pavlik!
I really have no idea how this will all turn out. I guess we'll have to "weight" and see.
I don't think PDub's "spay and pray" style would serve him very well against Pavlik. Against agressive, high work rate, fighters Kelly has always shown a willingness to stand and deliver. Styles make fights, and when you put these two styles together, the bigger, stronger, harder punching man wins. KP by KO in 5 of the most exciting rounds since Haglar/Hearns.
As a side note, I'm not sure what the record is, but these two would probably set a new record for most punches per round in a middleweight fight.
Kelly would get disqualified. Anyone who thinks Pavlik would stand around doing nothing while Ward holds, hits on the break, rabbit punches, and throws head butts is dead wrong.
There are 3 guys I can not wait to see Ward fight, and Pavlik is one of them. The other two are Froch and Abraham. Any of those guys would give Ward a taste of his own medicine.
Jesse just finished up a ten week camp during which he sparred over 150 rounds with sharp southpaws. During recent interviews Brinkley and his trainer (Peter Manfredo Sr) were both very realistic about the task at hand.
If Brinkley has sharpened up his ability to defend the body, and corrected the habit of letting his right hand wander around while jabbing, he can make this an interesting fight for 8-10 rounds. If not, he'll go down early.
Either way Jesse Brinkey earned his shot and he is going to take it. You can't fault a guy for that. At this point he is obviously better than Zuniga and Miranda.
Boxing is, was, and will forever be, a global sport. A true fan of the sport does not care where a fighter came from, or what color he is. This whole "boxing is dying" theory is rubbish. I wonder how many posters on here are old enough to remember the first Ali/Chuvalo fight. I'm only bringing that 1965 fight up because experts and fans alike said it was a sign that boxing was in its death throws! There have always been people who over react to every little thing, and they have always been wrong.
And by the way, the thread starter's reference to Kelly Pavlik was way off the mark. He gained popularity because he had a hell of a run from the fall of 2005 up to his September 2007 title shot, and then he knocked out the undefeated, undisputed middleweight champion of the world. In so doing he became just the 5th man in history to win the true middleweight championship while still undefeated. It had nothing to do with being white.
As a young man I was a decent amatuer boxer, a very good wrestler, and an oustanding street fighter. In a street fight I always tried to avoid going to the ground. A guy who knows how to throw a basic 1-1-2, 1-2-3, and 3-2, and has a modicum of defensive skill, will nearly always beat holy hell out of an average street fighter.
I pretty much destest MMA. It's a refuge for rednecks who found out rasslin ain't real. The fights are usual boring, ugly, affairs on the same level with fights I saw regularly back when I drank in biker bars.
It's about the same. Just disregard the points deductions. I thought it was odd that Hopkins and Pavlik both fought way "cleaner" than normal, but both lost points!
Pavlik decimated two guys who beat Ornales, but Enrique wasn't sick and injured when he fought BHop. Pavlik was.
he beat the **** out of pavlik in regards to embarrassing him in a clear cut domination throughout the whole bout.
I guess you must have missed rounds 3 thru 8.
Pirog's team better look long and hard at Pavlik's perfomance on 11/13 before they choose him over Sturm. I have a feeling that Pavlik's problems are over, and he'll go on a wild ass tear next year, just like he did on his way up. Pirog don't want no part of that.
Because it was important to him to rematch Andrade (because their first fight had ended controversially and he wanted to prove conclusively that he was the better fighter); the rematch was scheduled for after the Super 6 was due to start, and Showtime wasn't willing to give a place to the Bute-Andrade winner on that basis.
Wrong -- Ken Herschman, executive director of Showtime sports, said very clearly that both Lucian Bute and Kelly Pavlik were excluded on the basis of cost. Now we've got Bika, Johnson, and Green. Major screw up on Showtime's part.
The assumption that a Bute/Pavlik fight would lead to Bute fighting the S6 winner is a pretty big assumption. Kelly Pavlik may have other plans. He was suppose to make Miranda look good to help build a Taylor/Miranda showdown, but HBO forgot to give Kelly a copy of that particular memo.
It's also true that Pavlik would beat every fighter on Bute's resume'. He beat fresher, and much better versions of Zuniga, Miranda, and Cason, and he certainly would not need to fight Andrade twice.
I'm not making a prediction here. I'm just saying the article contains a rather superficial assumption.
I think it is time to reevaluate Martinez. Yes, he KOed Williams, but watch the slo-mo. Martnez had his head sticking out past his feet, his face pointed directly at the canvass, and his eyes closed when that shot landed. Not many top fighters would get caught like that.
Ten days before the Martinez fight Pavlik checked out of The Betty Ford Center weighing 180 pounds. Pav continued drinking, dropped 20 pounds in 10 days, and still managed to win 4 or 5 rounds, black Sergio's eyes, and put him on his butt.
Martinez is not the beast people seem to think he is. He's just a decent fighter who was in the right place at the right time.
I'd like to see Pavlik/Cloud. An old and fat Zuniga who has been through a dozen wars went the distance with Cloud, and at certain points gave Cloud real problems. Pavlik got off the canvass and destroyed a peak Zuniga at 160.
Pavlik/Cloud has Pavlik/Miranda II written all over it, and I think any real boxing fan would love to see a fight like that!
Pavlik threads, in any forum, tend to be very entertaining. They seperate the "smart" boxing fans from the not so smart fans.
The not so smart fans say things like "Hopkins stole his soul," and "double the f....ing jab," and "Pavlik needs to dump Leow," et, et.
Smart fans know that Kelly was in the ring 4 months after the Hopkins fight, toyed with his mandatory, and made a tough Mexican cry and quit on his stool. Smart fans also know that in the two fights Pavlik lost he virtually ignored Leow's instructions.
With that aside, it's nice to hear that KP has the weight issues under control. He's 168 five weeks before the fight. I won't be surprised if he comes in a little light on 11/13. I really hope he can stay at 160. It would be a crying shame if he has to leave the division just when it is starting to heat up again.
It doesnt' make sense on an undercard. Manfredo is dog ****. He lost to frigging Jeff Lacy FFS. Mike Jones against Soto Karauss who lost to Gomez and now this? The only fight on that undercard that looks maybe half way decent is Rigo against Cordoba. And that's only because Rigo is so untested.
This post provides some good insight into why you are not a manager or promoter.
At least Rodriquez admitted the scorecards were wacked. I think we should give him some credit for that.
As for a Pavlik/Rodriquez fight, I think Rodriquez is to easy to hit with right hands to have much chance against Kelly. You can't eat KP's right hand repeatedly, and expect to sat on your feet.
I may be way off, but I think Pavlik will come in to the Vera fight around 162, and call out the Williams/Martinez II winner. 168 is a freaking mess right now. Dirrell is gone. Kessler is gone. Taylor is gone and KP already beat him twice. The looser of Froch/Abraham will have back to back losses. Allan Green might literally die in the ring against Pavlik.
At 160 there's Pirog, Williams, Martinez, Sturm, and a bunch of young guns coming up. There are more fights and more money availablefor Pavlik at 160.
On February 23, 2002 Pavlik fought a no-hoper named Robert Dasoyan at 160 pounds. In my opinion that is the last time Pavlik was a true middleweight. Ever since then he was pretty much a weight drained SMW. His next 11 fights were above the 160 pound limit. Then he had 1 fight at 160, a fight at SMW, and a fight over the SMW limit.
After that he got a fight with Zuniga for the vacant NABF title at 160. The wins over Zuniga and McKart put him on the fast track to a shot at Taylor. That is probably the main reason KP settled in at 160. The man has not been a true middleweight for a long time.
The truth is that Bob Arum, and Kelly's co-manager Cameron Dunkin, have put a lot of pressure on Pavlik to try and stay at 160. Pavlik has resisted the idea, and wants to move up. A fight at 164 is a compromise designed to test the weight issues. If he feels good about the weight, he'll try to make 160 at least one more time, and go after the winner of Williams/Martinez II. If he struggles to make 164, he'll move up.
In addition, I'm amazed by how over rated this Pirog kid is. "Flyweight to yo mamma's weight" even a weight drained, dehydrated, and exhausted Kelly Pavlik, like we saw in the Martinez fight, or a sick and injured Pavlik like we saw in the Hopkins fight, would knock Pirog out, and make it look easy. Pirog is not fast, and anyone who has seen more than one of his fights knows the kid can't fight off the back foot. If you're in the ring with Pavlik, you're not fast, and can't fight off the back foot, you're about to catch a serious beating.