Kelly Pavlik-Paul Williams Offer Denied, Says Goossen

[Tom_Tocca]

Beside the interview I taped with Goossen, he said a lot more...the part you saw on video was promotion like any clever business man would do. We talked a lot more about PWill vs. Dzinziruk and him and even DiBella agreed that this would be a great fight. Funny thing was as we talked, Ken Hershman stood by and all of a sudden Goossen said something like "You see Ken, that's a great fight which interests boxing pundits on both sides of the pond" and Hershman was like "Could you repeat his name, please?"

Btw, DiBella is a cool guy to talk to - he asked me a lot about the European fight scene and about possible up and comers...we also talked Sturm vs Gevor and he agreed (different to his promo agenda) that Sturm won a razor thin decision b/c of the cleaner shots landed.

Oh and it's clearly Goossen's agenda to keep PWill's status and "most feared man around 147-160". That's why he comment this way. The realistic and mist likely plan is to fight and beat Dzinziruk to get into a more even position with Arum/Team Pavlik...

[BattlingNelson]

Beside the interview I taped with Goossen, he said a lot more...the part you saw on video was promotion like any clever business man would do. We talked a lot more about PWill vs. Dzinziruk and him and even DiBella agreed that this would be a great fight. Funny thing was as we talked, Ken Hershman stood by and all of a sudden Goossen said something like "You see Ken, that's a great fight which interests boxing pundits on both sides of the pond" and Hershman was like "Could you repeat his name, please?"

Btw, DiBella is a cool guy to talk to - he asked me a lot about the European fight scene and about possible up and comers...we also talked Sturm vs Gevor and he agreed (different to his promo agenda) that Sturm won a razor thin decision b/c of the cleaner shots landed.

Oh and it's clearly Goossen's agenda to keep PWill's status and "most feared man around 147-160". That's why he comment this way. The realistic and mist likely plan is to fight and beat Dzinziruk to get into a more even position with Arum/Team Pavlik...

Yeah. I was thinking that the Pavlik 'negotiations' was more of a ploy to get leverage in the 'real' negotiations for a fight with Dzinziruk. That's also the fight that makes the most sens for pwill anyway.

[Nesty]

PWill management need to come up with a plan to market Williams. This running around in different division trying to challenge for the the most money is not working. With every passing month people are saying "Paul Who!"

Boxing is like any other profession... either you are a great Frech Chef or a great Italian Chef... but if you try to claim both titles... well then people get a bit confuse when it comes to the taste. The same with Paul... he needs to pick a division and make people fight him for ranking. Make a niche for himself instead of running around and bitching everytime some turns down an offer. We fear the unknown and that's what Paul brings... we just don't know if he is a 147, 154, 160 and now they are even throwing 168! Make up your mind and build up your case as the best in one division at a time.

[TOMA BOXIMG]

I think paul would whoop pavliks ass! Bob doesnt want that!

Boy i think paul would overwhelm pavlik. This is what sucks about boxing. Fights that should happen dont. I give credit to 3 fighters; cotto, juan m marquez, and manny pac. These guys would fight anyone. I give manny hell sometimes but its not his fault hes team is to blame for some of the bs matches hes had. But damn this is what sucks about boxing.

[Shattered Jaw]

Are you serious Sturm is worth more and carries more prestige? That's insane! Who has Sturm ever beaten that was top level and does ppl in the U.S. even know Sturm? You might be right if they fight out of the country.

There is more to the world than the USA. Germany is boxing crazed at the moment and it has a population of 80M. Fighting Sturm to unify in Germany (at a reasonable time) in a massive stadium and then with all the US PPV sales would be an insane purse.

[hookoutofhell]

poor negotiations on both sides, one side does not want the fight to happen and the other overestimates their own worth. first of all kelly is the champ at 160 and has two wins over taylor to prove it, he is a marquee name and a PPV attraction. why should he accept 50/50 goosen should have realized this and made a more realistic offer (55-45 imo).

however if kelly was serious about fighting williams he would have countered the offer with his own offer, of 60/40 or 65/35. the fact that he didn't tells me that he doesn't want no part of the punisher. besides he can improve his resume by taking up fights wtith mundine or sturm both of whom are good MW fighters. both would accept a 60/40 split as well and both have some sort of pedigree at the higher weights.

williams for all his multi divisional contention doesn't have that pedigree. i really think he should just concentrate on 154 for now, i admire his ambition but 154 needs a good established champ and williams can clean out the divsion in 3/4 fights if hes smart. if an offer to fight sturm mundine or pavlik does come up and the money is too good to turn down then go for it but for now concentrate on 154.

[Mary Jane]

50-50? Williams should be satisfied with 35%.

[Iceta]

Sturm is the only legit opponent at MW now that Abraham has left. According to german media this fight is worth 7 million a piece. That might be an overstatement, but I would think it's worth more than Williams.

Williams has beaten nobody at MW except for a 37 yearold who had spent the last 2 years in a rocking chair.

I totally disagree with your position about Sturm. The guy is a mediocre fighter at best. He lost his last fight, but got the victory based on politics and corrupt German judging. Winky Wright would beat Sturm easily. And what you fail to mention is that Wright was a hell of a lot more competitive with Hopkins than Pavlik was.

[Iceta]

There are factors that make me understand the position that Goosen and Williams are taking here. But even so, they are wrong by thinking they should get a 50/50 split. The reasons why is Pavlik's strong fan base in the Mid West and the fact that Kelly is still champ. But Williams has some things going for him. The victory over Winky Wright of course and he also has a bigger talent pool of fighters to choose from since he has the ability to compete in different weight classes. Combine that with the fact that he is not struggling to get on HBO like Pavlik is and Pavlik's loss to Hopkins, and Paul does have a case with the 50-50 split. But I think 60-40 to Pavlik is fair. I don't think Arum will ever take that fight on an even split. And I heard a poster earlier say that Pavlik is a PPV draw. Are you kidding me? The Taylor-Pavlik rematch only did 200,000 buys after the initial fight between them was the highest viewed HBO boxing telecast of the year. And the Hopkins-Pavlik fight did barely over 100,000 buys. Pavlik is not PPV material.

[BigTaco00]

I totally disagree with your position about Sturm. The guy is a mediocre fighter at best. He lost his last fight, but got the victory based on politics and corrupt German judging. Winky Wright would beat Sturm easily. And what you fail to mention is that Wright was a hell of a lot more competitive with Hopkins than Pavlik was.

I agree with you here. I would not want Pavlik going anywhere near Germany to fight Strum, especially after that last fight. He needs to fight though because its been a while for him. What ever happened to Mora besides no one wanting to see that fight? Mora was on FNF saying how he still had a contract to fight Pavlik but there has been no contact with their camp?