Arum planning summer PPV with Pavlik-Mora and possibly Margarito
by Scott Christ on Mar 12, 2009 11:35 AM EDT
in Boxing News Analysis
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You've probably all seen it by now, so let's just present the quick facts as reported by Dan Rafael:
- Kelly Pavlik will most likely defend his middleweight championship against Sergio Mora this summer
- The fight will be on PPV, as HBO and Showtime both passed
- It will be another split-site show, with Pavlik-Mora in Atlantic City and the rest of the card in Mexico
- Julio Cesar Chavez, Jr. will be featured on the Mexico portion
- Arum is considering putting Antonio Margarito on the card as well
- The possible dates are June 20, July 18 and July 25
The deal has already been reached with Mora and Tournament of Contenders promoter Jeff Wald, and the Pavlik side will hammer it out soon, according to his manager Cameron Dunkin.
This is a really horribly unappealing fight, especially considering Bob wil try to sell it for $45 again. He knows Pavlik-Mora stinks, so he's going to try to bleed the Mexican market with Chavez and maybe Margarito to bump the sales of this one up. Apparently Showtime was interested only in a Pavlik defense against Vernon Forrest, which fell through when the Forrest camp wanted more money than originally agreed upon in a typical "we don't really want this fight" move. HBO passed on "other opponents" as well as Mora.
This is not surprising, though. HBO is sticking to their guns about quality fights, and Pavlik-Mora just isn't an interesting fight. It's also not really anyone's fault. This is about as big of a fight you can make for Kelly Pavlik right now. Arthur Abraham and Felix Sturm are just not financially logical right now. In a bad economy, you can't try to sell guys who have minimal names in the States when they DO demand a solid pricetag because they can make a ton of money in Germany without Pavlik against the likes of Lajuan Simon and Koji Sato.
It's a really shallow division. If you take Abraham and Sturm out of the equation, there's really nobody any more qualified than Sergio Mora. Pavlik's middleweight championship reign may turn out to be largely uneventful. We've seen Gary Lockett, who had no business in there, and Marco Antonio Rubio, who was a legit top ten contender that got run over because Pavlik's just way better than him.
I think the initial reaction to this might be that the fight stinks but that Mora's style could give Pavlik trouble. It won't. Mora is not the slickster he postures as. He's not that cute and he's not that effective defensively. He doesn't punch worth a damn and Pavlik is going to come at him all night. Sergio's really better off at 154 pounds, but of course he should take a fight with Pavlik at 160. It's by far his best money opportunity unless he were to fight Oscar de la Hoya. That he is taking it is a bit surprising given his past bonehead decisions.
I'm sure Arum will put Chavez in against someone that presents no real threat to him, and if he gets the feelers out and discovers that Margarito being included won't disgust quite enough people, he'll put him out there against Baldomir or somebody.
In all honesty, Pavlik has to fight and Arum is making a pretty sound business decision to target the Mexican demographic since he's relegated to PPV. I have no doubt Bob doesn't really want this fight on PPV, because the more Kelly fights off the networks, the more casual fans start wondering what he's been up to. But he can't sell Pavlik-Mora. I don't think anyone could have.
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John Duddy?
What happened to the proposed Pavlik-Duddy fight? Duddy would look a bit better than Mora.
Pavlik will reign for years fighting guys like this.
Whats the chances of Kelly getting on a plane to Germany to take on Arthur Abraham? AA is the only guy out there i see doing something to the Ring Champ. Surely he could make a tonne of money taking the risk in the fatherland?
Theres a big wide world out there American Friends
Mainstream is brought to you ..
Underground you got to go there...
He would make good money, but like Abraham he can make good money without the other guy, and everyone knows Pavlik and Abraham are the biggest challenges to each other. If you can keep them trucking and pulling in money apart, they’ll avoid each other forever. And we all know Arum isn’t sending Pavlik to Germany, nor do I think Pavlik’s camp would be excited about going to Germany to fight.
"If they cut my bald head open, they will find one big boxing glove. That's all I am. I live it." -- Marvin Hagler
by Scott Christ on Mar 12, 2009 12:17 PM EDT up reply actions
FWIW
Sauerland has said they intend for Abraham’s next fight after Simon to be a ‘name fighter’ in the US. That is, if Abraham beats Simon. As far as I know, Simon’s never been on TV, but from the accounts I’ve read it seems like he’s a tough cookie – a high workrate boxer-puncher who can bang a little and has a chin. On one hand, a forward moving fighter without a ton of skill would seem to be tailor made for Abraham because he’s mostly a counterpuncher and because he might have the best one punch power P4P of anyone out there right now (he’s in my top 5 anyway). On the other hand, Abraham doesn’t throw a ton of punches, often complacent to only punch for the last 45 seconds of a round, and a fighter who can take what Abraham can dish while throwing way more punches might be able to sneak out a decision, even in Germany. Like Abraham, Simon has never been down and has fought through getting his jaw broken in the early rounds of a fight. This could end up looking a lot like a MW version of Mack-Henry.
Sturm will never face anyone who isn’t a mandatory. Universum is the worst when it comes to protecting their fighters. Hell, Sauerland offered Sturm 2.5 million Euro to have a unification bout with Abraham in what would have been the biggest fight that could be made in Germany (other than maybe Klitschko-Klitschko), and they didn’t even consider it. Mundine is his mandatory, so he’ll probably eventually fight Mundine, but the current version of Mundine is badly faded. I watched the highlight clips from Mundine-Taylor, and Mundine now looks flat-footed and slow, and he was wobbled by Taylor and knocked down by Crazy Kim. He’s no spring chicken, and there are a lot of miles on his body, having played professional rugby for years before becoming a boxer. Also, Koji Sato looks AWFUL. I mean, seriously horrible. Crude, slow slugger, not even in particularly great shape. The power seems to be there, but that’s about it.
As for Duddy, it looks like Top Rank wants to sign him once he clears up his promoter situation, so they’re not going to give him any great fights until he’s already signed the dotted line.
Vogt early, Vogt often.
This could end up looking a lot like a MW version of Mack-Henry.
Pass.
"If they cut my bald head open, they will find one big boxing glove. That's all I am. I live it." -- Marvin Hagler
by Scott Christ on Mar 12, 2009 3:04 PM EDT up reply actions
They don't want to cash him in quite yet.
I personally think they wanted the magical St. Patty’s Day title fight last year in MSG, but Taylor screwed it up by exercising his rematch clause. They keep missing their window, but the fight is a mismatch anyway. Throwing John in with somebody as good as Pavlik (or Abraham, or Sturm) would be like throwing him into a pit full of tigers and bears as far as I can see. I’m shocked they just didn’t hold John over for this weekend, put him in versus Andy Lee (who doesn’t have a date right now).
"I want to see ocean. I want to see black people. I want to see palms." - Wladimir Klitschko
I dunno, unless Mora gets stopped in round 10 or some late round stoppage, i see him outboxing pavlik. still a weak match up tho, mora is a jr. middleweight…
Mora fought twice in his career at 154
He’s a middleweight, just not a very good one. He really had to drain to get to 154.
I can see Mora winning a few rounds in an ugly fight, but he just doesn’t have the power to keep Pavlik off of him.
Vogt early, Vogt often.
Mora can’t outbox Pavlik. He’s not good enough. I really don’t think he’s much of a “pure boxer” — since his KO rate sucks he gets made out to be a slickster, but he’s really not too slick. Pavlik should be able to walk him down and keep the 1-2 in his face all night.
"If they cut my bald head open, they will find one big boxing glove. That's all I am. I live it." -- Marvin Hagler
by Scott Christ on Mar 12, 2009 3:01 PM EDT up reply actions
In my eyes Mora is a bucket of suck if you compare him to world class fighters. Mora will make it an ugly fight to see given that he will do his best to pot shot and move away. Ala Corey Spinks vs Taylor.
"Boxing is dirty," said Casamayor. " The day I’m not ready to be a dirty fighter is the day I don’t fight anymore because it will mean that I have no heart for it anymore."
You know perhaps Arum should have talked to the VS people and say we have a legit championship fight. You want to air it? I know the money isn’t going to be good but it isn’t going to be good anywhere in the states.
"Boxing is dirty," said Casamayor. " The day I’m not ready to be a dirty fighter is the day I don’t fight anymore because it will mean that I have no heart for it anymore."
he makes far more money this way
"If they cut my bald head open, they will find one big boxing glove. That's all I am. I live it." -- Marvin Hagler
by Scott Christ on Mar 12, 2009 3:09 PM EDT up reply actions
that said
I do think Bob may be making a card that I will not buy. Mora, Chavez, Margarito — it’s like a parade of my least favorite fighters right now.
"If they cut my bald head open, they will find one big boxing glove. That's all I am. I live it." -- Marvin Hagler
by Scott Christ on Mar 12, 2009 3:11 PM EDT up reply actions
He's just like his father
Except that he’s nothing like his father at all.
He has good power and decent physical tools, but he doesn’t seem to give a damn about learning how to box. Basically, he’s a mediocre prospect who they treat like a main gate attraction. Imagine Delvin Rodriguez if Rodriguez only threw wide looping punches and you basically have JCC Jr. He almost got beat by the guy who John Duddy destroyed in his last fight, if that gives you an idea of his talent level.
Vogt early, Vogt often.
i refuse to watch any card with margarito flaunting the ban.
Gatti.
Dekkers.
Pele.
Tadahiro Nomura.
Hidehiko Yoshida.
Aoki.
Kang.
Vanderlei.
by theworldsoldestsport on Mar 12, 2009 3:11 PM EDT reply actions
Yeah… sorry Kelly but if Margarito is on the card I will not even remotely consider buying it even if you land a fight with Abraham.
"Boxing is dirty," said Casamayor. " The day I’m not ready to be a dirty fighter is the day I don’t fight anymore because it will mean that I have no heart for it anymore."
Flauting
Pet peeve. Flaunting and flauting are pretty much opposites of one another, but since they look almost the same people mix em up all the time.
I’m with you though, at this point. I might back off on my stance depending on the results that come back from California. If it turns out that it was nothing more than an old pad, then in my opinion it’s more like they did something technically outside the rules than that they were blatantly trying to cheat.
Vogt early, Vogt often.
God I hope so.
If Toni did what they say he did, my whole boxing world becomes a little bit greyer. I love Toni as a fighter, and really really hope he is not guilty of trying to effectively take a deadly weapon into a boxing ring.
Does the fact a boxer doesn't switch weight divisions during their career detract from their overall P4P ranking?
Cos I'd take Hagler over most heavies in history, P4P, and also over "6 weight world champion" Oscar De La Hoya, and Marvellous Marvin never really messed about with his weight, did he?
Every middle weight out there wants more money than even the champ makes. I firmley believe you have to earn it to make it. Pavlik clearly got schooled by hopkins but I believe it seasoned him. He still the most feared middle weight out there,and that is why these guys want so much money,including Abraham mister earmuffs. But boxing is very dirty,It’s about promoters & Governing bodies such as the WBC,IBF,WBA&WBO getting rich.
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