Highlights of the December 19 fight between Kelly Pavlik and Miguel Espino. For those that haven't seen the full fight, you can say a lot of things about Pavlik-Espino, but it sure as hell wasn't boring.
about 2 years ago
Scott Christ
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3 things from the first watch of that.
1. Even Michael Buffer’s catchphrase at the beginning of the fight seemed a bit half-hearted. Almost like he didn’t want to do it.
2. Smoger’s constant rabbiting was doing my head in. He also seems to have a bit of a Napolean complex going on, pushing the fighters around, shouting at Espino that if he gets tagged once more he’s gone. Even with the stoppage he was shouting and stuff before actually waving it off.
3. As much as I like Pavlik, he is a pretty weak middleweight champion when considered against some of the greats of the past. I don’t see him going 3 rounds against Hagler, Hopkins would have beaten him prime vs prime at 160 possibly even worse than he did at 170, Hearns would have stopped him too, I feel. Jones, well. That wouldn’t have even been a contest, and even James Toney would have beaten Pavlik down. As I say, I like Pavlik, I do class myself as a fan of him, but realism kicks in sometimes, and watching Espino rough him up on the inside with impunity made me realise that Pavlik isn’t the fighter some (myself included) have made him out to be in the past. He is still the best 160lb fighter out there now, but in the same way that the Klitschkos are derided for lack of competition, I don’t think history will be kind to Kelly Pavlik.
Some people are acting like Pacquiao should be expected to have just gone, "Yeah sure, let’s do something I’ve never done before because your dad made some dumbass baseless comment."
(SC, 28/12/09; http://www.badlefthook.com/2009/12/27/1221143/mayweather-pacquiao-update-bob#comments)
As much as I love Hearns,
and I really, really do, I think Pavlik might do a Barkley on him. I’ll concur on your other picks, and analysis, though.
"I'm not God - but I am something similar", Roberto Duran
There was always the possibility that Hearns got stopped, in any fight.
But I think he’d outgun Pavlik more often than not.
Some people are acting like Pacquiao should be expected to have just gone, "Yeah sure, let’s do something I’ve never done before because your dad made some dumbass baseless comment."
(SC, 28/12/09; http://www.badlefthook.com/2009/12/27/1221143/mayweather-pacquiao-update-bob#comments)
I think maybe he was a bit casual/rusty
He knew that Espino was no real threat to him, and he was coming off an injury lay-off. No, he’s not a great, but by definition thats a select class and there’s still time for him to reach those heights, as he’s far better than he looked there.
I hated every minute of training, but I said, ‘’Don’t quit. Suffer now and live the rest of your life as a champion.'’ (Bernard Hopkins)
What a Farce!
Was the 1st Rd in slow motion?
This is the guy Bob Arum once said he was better than Hagler…..hahahah
This is the guy Pavlopath think he is going to KO Paul Williams!
Dream, Dream, eventually you gonna wake up, and it’ll be hard….
Everything is meant to overhype him: even Michael Buffer said the “undefeated…”
What a farce!
Look how bigger that bum was, compared to the sub-contender named Espino!
If he is good, then Carl Froch is a boxing jewel…
Pavlik is no bum
Sure he didn’t look that good in this fight but he is a bonafide champion and has had very big, impressive wins in the past.
"Honey i forgot to duck" - Jack Dempsey
by Drunken cutman on Dec 29, 2009 7:11 PM EST up reply actions
I hadn’t seen any of the fight until just now. It’s hard to draw any real conclusions from it. As Bernstein says in the clip, Pavlik fought differently than he normally fights, which was probably because he knew Espino couldn’t hurt him. So he put practically zero effort into defense or even into using his offense as defense. He just allowed Espino fight him on the inside and banged away indiscriminately.
You don’t get it, man. Everyone is bad. Hype! Hype! Hype! Hype! Everything stinks! By God 20 years ago everyone was good!
Bad Left Hook
"If bulls**t was poetry, Ray 'Boom Boom' Mancini's name would be Shakespeare." -- Dennis Rappaport
by Scott Christ on Dec 29, 2009 8:16 PM EST up reply actions 1 recs
Made me laugh
"Honey i forgot to duck" - Jack Dempsey
by Drunken cutman on Dec 29, 2009 9:04 PM EST up reply actions
Yeah I could almost feel the shock and the pain
it must have caused. I really didn’t think that he would get up.
"Honey i forgot to duck" - Jack Dempsey
by Drunken cutman on Dec 29, 2009 9:05 PM EST up reply actions
I think its way too early to write the book on Pavlik. I’m not saying it’s probable, but what if in 2010 he knocks out Williams and beats someone else at the top of the sport, e.g. Bute? He’s still pretty young and, while Pavlik clearly has vulnerabilities, the same can be said of most champions. Perhaps because of the hype going in, a lot of observers have overreacted to the Hopkins fight- clearly it’s a horrible matchup for Kelly due to Hopkins’ defense, but moving up so far in weight is always risky (even if Pavlik’s team did not appreciate this at the time).
He has handled faster fighters before and I think he will do so again, including the possible Paul Williams fight. It also might be a mistake to equate crafty fighters like Martinez and Bute with Hopkins, who really occupies a different level than those very talented fighters.
"clearly it’s a horrible matchup for Kelly due to Hopkins’ defense,"
If that’s what you think, you almost certainly haven’t watched Pavlik/Hopkins.
And if you need me to explain that, then I know you haven’t watched the fight.
Some people are acting like Pacquiao should be expected to have just gone, "Yeah sure, let’s do something I’ve never done before because your dad made some dumbass baseless comment."
(SC, 28/12/09; http://www.badlefthook.com/2009/12/27/1221143/mayweather-pacquiao-update-bob#comments)
Pavlik vs Mundine
Anthony Mundine has the style to defeat Kelly Pavlik and go onto bigger things-no doubt about it-this is the fight I want to see in 2010
Pavlik vs Mundine
Mundine prides himself on beating people when they are at a disadvantage , either not ready or past it or in the Danny Green fight making green lose a ton of weight just to get the fight , to Greens credit he never used this as an excuse and just got on with becoming world champion , Mundine could learn a lot from Green about being humble.
as for a potential fight with Pavlik it will never happen as Mundine will find an excuse to get out of the fight and then claim Pavlik was scared , if somehow it did happen Pavlik would have him snoozing before the end of the 3rd round!
this looks like it was a good fight.
Pavlik KO 3 over williams
The Dude Abides
by battle axe of doom on Dec 30, 2009 2:30 AM EST reply actions
only just caught up with this now
looks like it was much better a fight than it had any right to be. Not pretty, but fun.
I hated every minute of training, but I said, ‘’Don’t quit. Suffer now and live the rest of your life as a champion.'’ (Bernard Hopkins)
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