Pavlik = worst middleweight championship reign ever?

[DiegoFuego]

Now before you read this wrong, I'm not saying Pavlik is a bad fighter. I'm saying his reign as middleweight champ was absolutely pathetic.

Many of you on here and others in boxing criticized Jermain Taylor for what he did during his tenure as champion. He beat Hopkins (pound for pound #1 at the time) twice. Both fights were close, but neither could have gone to B-Hop. Maybe a draw in the first. Taylor next fought Winky (p4p #2 at the time) and got a draw in a fight where it seemed most fitting. Winky then refused a rematch with Taylor because he obviously felt he either did not win the first fight or that Taylor would make adjustments and win the rematch. Next, Taylor fought two junior middleweights (Ouma and Spinks) and beat both but neither by knockout. He also defended the title against Pavlik, who EVERYONE wanted him to fight, and was beaten.

Now, Kelly Pavlik...
beat Taylor for the belt and beat him again at a higher weight, though the second fight was very close. His first defense is Gary Lockett, who is 10x worse than any opponent Taylor fought. Then he fights a 43 year old Hopkins at 170, gets humiliated and promptly blames the weight and some kind of a cold for his loss. Everyone immediately talks about him fighting undefeated Arthur Abraham next. His next defense? Marco Antonio Rubio?!? Kassim Ouma dominated Rubio years before, and Taylor dominated Ouma. Next, Pavlik is lined up to face Paul Williams but backs out of the fight 3 times, one time saying he has a staph infection he never got around to taking care of. As soon as Williams signs to fight Martinez, Pavlik signs to fight somebody or other named Espino. Pavlik of course knocks him out but gets hit a bunch in the fight.

So finally we come to Saturday where Pavlik loses to a junior middleweight he outweighs by 11 pounds.

Thank God it's over. He was an embarrassment to the history of the middleweight title, ducking his biggest threats in Abraham and Williams and trying to get extra mileage out of his average ability by fighting tomato cans. Sorry to any fans of Pavlik, but this guy basically made the middleweight crown meaningless for two years. Hopefully Martinez can restore some of the pride that belt used to carry before Kelly came along.

[Shattered Jaw]

Harsh critisism but tough to disagree with. Pavlik has certainly not fufilled his potential.... his career managment has been terrible since the Taylor wins.

[DiegoFuego]

Like I said, he's a good (not great) fighter who probably would never have become middleweight champ if Taylor had the resolve to finish him when he was ready to go in that first fight.

He showed good adjustment against Martinez too in the middle rounds...but Martinez is a junior middleweight. The size mismatch was frightening in there. My friend who doesn't follow boxing walked in and asked if Pavlik was a heavyweight, they looked so far apart.

And yeah, I'm bashing on Arum and whoever else managed his career because he went down the toilet faster than just about any rising star.

[street bully]

I agree with this. After the heavyweight title and the welterweight title, the moddleweight belt has always been one of the three most illustrious titles in all of boxing, and Pavlik made a mockery out of it for the past two years. To make matters worse he lost to guy much smaller than himself eventhough middleweight champions have almost always beat their ww and jmw rivals.

[jrosales13]

JT reign was not all that good either.

Yea he fought tougher comp. But, he arguably lost 4 of his 5 title defenses. And, the only crear title defense win he had was against a shot JMW in Kassim Ouma...

[Calilloyd]

Now before you read this wrong, I'm not saying Pavlik is a bad fighter. I'm saying his reign as middleweight champ was absolutely pathetic.

Many of you on here and others in boxing criticized Jermain Taylor for what he did during his tenure as champion. He beat Hopkins (pound for pound #1 at the time) twice. Both fights were close, but neither could have gone to B-Hop. Maybe a draw in the first. Taylor next fought Winky (p4p #2 at the time) and got a draw in a fight where it seemed most fitting. Winky then refused a rematch with Taylor because he obviously felt he either did not win the first fight or that Taylor would make adjustments and win the rematch. Next, Taylor fought two junior middleweights (Ouma and Spinks) and beat both but neither by knockout. He also defended the title against Pavlik, who EVERYONE wanted him to fight, and was beaten.

Now, Kelly Pavlik...
beat Taylor for the belt and beat him again at a higher weight, though the second fight was very close. His first defense is Gary Lockett, who is 10x worse than any opponent Taylor fought. Then he fights a 43 year old Hopkins at 170, gets humiliated and promptly blames the weight and some kind of a cold for his loss. Everyone immediately talks about him fighting undefeated Arthur Abraham next. His next defense? Marco Antonio Rubio?!? Kassim Ouma dominated Rubio years before, and Taylor dominated Ouma. Next, Pavlik is lined up to face Paul Williams but backs out of the fight 3 times, one time saying he has a staph infection he never got around to taking care of. As soon as Williams signs to fight Martinez, Pavlik signs to fight somebody or other named Espino. Pavlik of course knocks him out but gets hit a bunch in the fight.

So finally we come to Saturday where Pavlik loses to a junior middleweight he outweighs by 11 pounds.

Thank God it's over. He was an embarrassment to the history of the middleweight title, ducking his biggest threats in Abraham and Williams and trying to get extra mileage out of his average ability by fighting tomato cans. Sorry to any fans of Pavlik, but this guy basically made the middleweight crown meaningless for two years. Hopefully Martinez can restore some of the pride that belt used to carry before Kelly came along.

It's at the bottom and it would be hard to refute that.

[Johnny Doomzday]

Yes Pavlik's reigh was weak as ****.

[Heeb]

I'm not boxing-history-savvy enough to know if it was the worst reign ever, but it was pretty bad. It's a shame. People thought he was going to be great after the Taylor fights. It's amazing how fast things can change.

[ulises_solis]

his reign was better than taylor imo
i mean at least he didnt left room for doubt in his wins, like taylor did against spinks

[Calilloyd]

JT reign was not all that good either.

Yea he fought tougher comp. But, he arguably lost 4 of his 5 title defenses. And, the only crear title defense win he had was against a shot JMW in Kassim Ouma...

He might not have accomplished much in terms of middleweight legacy but he took chances fighting Hopkins twice, Winky Wright and Pavlik. Kelly's team went out of their way to avoid the best middleweights. And it caught up with them when they finally faced elite fighters after Taylor.