Pavlik vs Sturm in Doubt After HBO Lowballs The Fight

[Iceta]

I don't really want to see a Pavlik-Sturm fight. It's not that I give zero chance to Sturm to beat Pavlik, I just don't think that Pavlik should have to get out pointed by a slick fighter who doesn't have a resume to deserve the fight. If Pavlik is going to lose again, he needs to do it in an exciting fight, or else his stock is going to hit rock bottom. I don't really care about unification, because the sanctioning bodies will just appoint more meaningless mandatories. We already know Vladimir Klitchko is the Heavyweight champ without multiple belts wrapped around his waist. I think Paul Williams is a tougher fight for Pavlik than Sturm.

[Pullcounter]

What happened the last time Sturm went to the US to fight one of their stars?

yeah, but pavlik ain't dlh and pavlik/AA isn't dlh/hopkins.

[BattlingNelson]

what's your point? im glad abraham came to the U.S. to prove himself & win. miranda was no star.

The point was who has a better chance of winning a decision, abraham in the U.S. or pavlik in germany?

All we know is that Sturm was on the losing end of a highly debateable decision against DLH. Pavlik has never fought outside the US.

So Sturm needs to be paid well if he should leave native Germany.

[giacomino]

what's your point? im glad abraham came to the U.S. to prove himself & win. miranda was no star.

The point was who has a better chance of winning a decision, abraham in the U.S. or pavlik in germany?

Agree it was a questionable decision, but are you saying Germany doesn't have a history of questionable decisions? Remember, Sturm won the WBO title he defended against DLH on a questionable split decision in Germany against the Argentine Velazco. Sturm supporters need to stop bitching about the DLH fight when the title he defended in the first place was questionably won

[Dave Rado]

All we know is that Sturm was on the losing end of a highly debateable decision against DLH. Pavlik has never fought outside the US.

So Sturm needs to be paid well if he should leave native Germany.

Why are they discussing Pavlik-Sturm anyway? Pavlik-Abraham is the unification fight most people want to see, and Abraham is available. Why did they suddenly switch to talking about Sturm rather than Abraham?

[Patheticfraud?]

The proposed middleweight unification bout between [WBC/WBO] Kelly Pavlik and [WBA] Felix Sturm is in serious doubt. And not because of some political wrangling from the fighters or the promoters. BoxingScene.com was advised by more than one source that HBO is only offering $2 million dollars for the fight. The same network that paid $3.5 million for the rematch between Chad Dawson and Antonio Tarver. [details]

What does Pavlik think he's worth tons of money now after the beating he took from Hopkins? He has a long way to go before he makes big money. Ask Hopkins what he made for his 3rd defense? And that's without taking a humiliating beat down.

[Pullcounter]

What does Pavlik think he's worth tons of money now after the beating he took from Hopkins? He has a long way to go before he makes big money. Ask Hopkins what he made for his 3rd defense? And that's without taking a humiliating beat down.

well, sturm isn't some cash cow either. I mean he makes money in Germany but so does pavlik in youngstown.

[BattlingNelson]

Why are they discussing Pavlik-Sturm anyway? Pavlik-Abraham is the unification fight most people want to see, and Abraham is available. Why did they suddenly switch to talking about Sturm rather than Abraham?

Good question. I was at first thinking that it was a decoy to lure a better offer out of AA. And maybe AA's alleged move to SMW is also exactly that - a move to put some hustle on team Pavlik.

[roujinziro]

By "certain people" I assume the writer of the article means GBP who must make some fantastic kool-aid, since HBO is always drinking it. They might want to to rethink passing up and lowballing fights between the top 3 fighters in a division (first Klitschko-Chagaev and now Pavlik-Sturm), especially after another one of their "future stars" got exposed, embaressed and quit like that. It doesn't make sense that they'll heavily fund mismatches of prospects (even those holding titles), and not put on compelling or important divisional matches.

[Heru]

****ing predictable, when HBO was showing mismatch after mismatch and overpaying for big names they were deservedly getting hammered by Hauser, Kim, and a few others.

Now that they've tightened up and only have a few names on the list of acceptable opponents in order to show the most competitive fights. People are still complaining, it's a damned if you do, damned if you don't. Not showing Klitschko-Chagaev was a smart move as shown by the horrible ratings it received on Classic and the predictably boring fight.

Rejecting Adamek-Johnson and Froch-Taylor were bad moves because those 2 were predictably good fights, but HBO wants ratings and a Pollack vs. Jamaican and a black fighter that had done poorly ratings-wise and was 1-2 in his last 3 vs. a fighter that was deemed as limited is not gonna cut it.

**** Pavlik-Sturm anyway, Pavlik shouldn't be on tv until he fights Abraham. The only obvious wrong here is that HBO wants to deal with Arum as little as possible, which is wrong because even if Arum is a prick, if you want to show boxing you have to talk to him cuz he got the best roster.