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Pavlik didn't "duck" Abraham, but what else is new, many boxing fans are just haters who look for any excuse to talk crap. These American fans sucking AA's junk didn't even know who he was, until Pavlik won the title and the haters needed a white whale to use as a foil for Pavlik.
The truth is that there is no money for a Pavlik-Abraham fight because AA never made an effort to build a fan base outside Europe. Maybe that's OK if you're Joe Calzaghe, but AA is nowhere near that level... he's never faced a top-flight opponent. Abraham only agreed to the Showtime tourney because it locks in 3 high-paying fights- he is going to be exposed eventually and knows he needs to cash in.
If he is for real, Pavlik can just fight him when he moves up to 168 and Abraham is better known. For now, what is Pavlik supposed to do? Middleweight is a weak division at the moment. Speaking of Hopkins, he fought some weak defenses and smaller fighters (*cough*DLH*cough*). Seems odd considering how much Pavlik haters love Hopkins for beating Pavlik, who had moved up 2 weight classes.
Martinez is a solid opponent- not incredible but certainly not bad. It makes sense insofar as Pavlik needs to improve against good technical fighters, plus Martinez is southpaw which Pavlik hasn't dealt with too much.
Meanwhile, Pavlik is only 27 and has a better resume than any of the 6 participants in the Showtime tourney. I'm not happy with his inactivity but people counting out Pavlik either don't know anything about boxing or just get some satisfaction from criticizing him, because they don't like his style, or he's white, or whatever.
The truth is that there is no money for a Pavlik-Abraham fight because AA never made an effort to build a fan base outside Europe. Maybe that's OK if you're Joe Calzaghe, but AA is nowhere near that level... he's never faced a top-flight opponent. Abraham only agreed to the Showtime tourney because it locks in 3 high-paying fights- he is going to be exposed eventually and knows he needs to cash in.
If he is for real, Pavlik can just fight him when he moves up to 168 and Abraham is better known. For now, what is Pavlik supposed to do? Middleweight is a weak division at the moment. Speaking of Hopkins, he fought some weak defenses and smaller fighters (*cough*DLH*cough*). Seems odd considering how much Pavlik haters love Hopkins for beating Pavlik, who had moved up 2 weight classes.
Martinez is a solid opponent- not incredible but certainly not bad. It makes sense insofar as Pavlik needs to improve against good technical fighters, plus Martinez is southpaw which Pavlik hasn't dealt with too much.
Meanwhile, Pavlik is only 27 and has a better resume than any of the 6 participants in the Showtime tourney. I'm not happy with his inactivity but people counting out Pavlik either don't know anything about boxing or just get some satisfaction from criticizing him, because they don't like his style, or he's white, or whatever.
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