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Pavlik dilemma for Calzaghe
Gary Lockett was the Brit taking the blows at the weekend, but, as usual, it was Joe Calzaghe and Ricky Hatton stealing the headlines.
Cwmbran’s Lockett, a compatriot and stable-mate of super-middleweight and light-heavyweight king Calzaghe, was outclassed and overpowered by American Kelly Pavlik in Atlantic City on Saturday.
And so clinical was Pavlik’s dismissal of Lockett - the Welshman’s corner threw in the towel in the third round following a third knockdown - talk immediately turned to a clash with Calzaghe this autumn.
Calzaghe’s promoter Frank Warren met Pavlik’s promoter Bob Arum last week, but also held talks with Don King, who represents four-weight world champion Roy Jones Jr.
“The fights are out there and can be made,” said Warren after watching Pavlik’s dismantling of Lockett. “Now it is really up to Joe.
“Gary didn’t perform against Pavlik and made him look brilliant, but it would be a different story against Joe.
“Pavlik fights in straight lines and is easy to hit and he wouldn’t look so good when Joe got inside, hit him with right hands and put him on the back foot. But either Pavlik or Jones would be a massive fight for Joe.”
Pavlik, a native of Youngstown, Ohio and a hero of America’s rust belt, certainly has more to gain from a match with Calzaghe than Calzaghe himself.
“They want me to fight Godzilla, then I’ll fight Godzilla,” said WBC and WBO middleweight champion Pavlik, aware that while two wins over Jermain Taylor may have cemented his claim as undisputed middleweight king, a stellar scalp like Calzaghe would ensure him superstar status.
Arum, who promoted middleweight legends Marvin Hagler and Carlos Monzon, publicly claims Pavlik is better than both, and the 26-year-old would probably represent a bigger risk for Calzaghe than the 39-year-old Jones, who has been on the slide now for four or five years.
Pavlik, while fairly easy to hit, punches hard and fights beautifully on the back foot. As an added incentive, a win over Calzaghe could make him the first man since Henry Armstrong in the 1930s to be a world champion at three different weights simultaneously.
In addition, beating a future Hall of Famer in Jones would probably do more for Calzaghe’s legacy than a win over the younger, hungrier Pavlik, as perverse as that may seem to some.
Warren has reportedly sealed a 15 November slot with American network HBO, but Arum would prefer any fight to take place on 18 October.
As for Hatton, Floyd Mayweather’s announcement that he is to hang up his gloves would appear to have kiboshed the Manchester fighter’s dreams of a rematch.
However, Mayweather has ‘retired’ twice before, most recently before his 10th-round stoppage of Hatton in Las Vegas last December, and few expect the 31-year-old to keep his promise.
Indeed, reports in the American media suggest Mayweather, who was due to have a rematch with Oscar de la Hoya in September, is simply stalling in an attempt to ratchet up interest in the fight and, subsequently, his pay.
It would surprise nobody if Mayweather, a man motivated almost entirely by money, were to retire after that fight, too, before returning to face Hatton at some point in 2009.
Cwmbran’s Lockett, a compatriot and stable-mate of super-middleweight and light-heavyweight king Calzaghe, was outclassed and overpowered by American Kelly Pavlik in Atlantic City on Saturday.
And so clinical was Pavlik’s dismissal of Lockett - the Welshman’s corner threw in the towel in the third round following a third knockdown - talk immediately turned to a clash with Calzaghe this autumn.
Calzaghe’s promoter Frank Warren met Pavlik’s promoter Bob Arum last week, but also held talks with Don King, who represents four-weight world champion Roy Jones Jr.
“The fights are out there and can be made,” said Warren after watching Pavlik’s dismantling of Lockett. “Now it is really up to Joe.
“Gary didn’t perform against Pavlik and made him look brilliant, but it would be a different story against Joe.
“Pavlik fights in straight lines and is easy to hit and he wouldn’t look so good when Joe got inside, hit him with right hands and put him on the back foot. But either Pavlik or Jones would be a massive fight for Joe.”
Pavlik, a native of Youngstown, Ohio and a hero of America’s rust belt, certainly has more to gain from a match with Calzaghe than Calzaghe himself.
“They want me to fight Godzilla, then I’ll fight Godzilla,” said WBC and WBO middleweight champion Pavlik, aware that while two wins over Jermain Taylor may have cemented his claim as undisputed middleweight king, a stellar scalp like Calzaghe would ensure him superstar status.
Arum, who promoted middleweight legends Marvin Hagler and Carlos Monzon, publicly claims Pavlik is better than both, and the 26-year-old would probably represent a bigger risk for Calzaghe than the 39-year-old Jones, who has been on the slide now for four or five years.
Pavlik, while fairly easy to hit, punches hard and fights beautifully on the back foot. As an added incentive, a win over Calzaghe could make him the first man since Henry Armstrong in the 1930s to be a world champion at three different weights simultaneously.
In addition, beating a future Hall of Famer in Jones would probably do more for Calzaghe’s legacy than a win over the younger, hungrier Pavlik, as perverse as that may seem to some.
Warren has reportedly sealed a 15 November slot with American network HBO, but Arum would prefer any fight to take place on 18 October.
As for Hatton, Floyd Mayweather’s announcement that he is to hang up his gloves would appear to have kiboshed the Manchester fighter’s dreams of a rematch.
However, Mayweather has ‘retired’ twice before, most recently before his 10th-round stoppage of Hatton in Las Vegas last December, and few expect the 31-year-old to keep his promise.
Indeed, reports in the American media suggest Mayweather, who was due to have a rematch with Oscar de la Hoya in September, is simply stalling in an attempt to ratchet up interest in the fight and, subsequently, his pay.
It would surprise nobody if Mayweather, a man motivated almost entirely by money, were to retire after that fight, too, before returning to face Hatton at some point in 2009.
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