Kelly Pavlik Cites Being Drained As Excuse For Loss To Sergio Martinez

Kelly Pavlik's last fight at middleweight was the epic battle between himself and Sergio Martinez. The fight went back and forth before the Argentinian took control down the stretch largely due to the cut bothering Kelly Pavlik. Even though both fighters put forth a great performance, Kelly Pavlik has decided to make excuses about losing the necessary weight before the fight according to an article by Chris Robinson.

"People in the camp and people around know that was a Kelly Pavlik that was completely drained in that fight," Pavlik continued. "When you come into camp at 195 [pounds] of muscle and you are 6'1" body frame, it's hard to make 160. If we would have done it the right way, we could have make 160 fairly easily. But the whole problem was cutting that. When you have to lose twelve pounds on a Wednesday night and the weigh-ins are early Friday afternoon, it takes everything out of your body."

"I would love another rematch with him but I would want to see how the weight goes first with my nutritionist and how we feel energy-level," Pavlik claimed. "If I have to go through anything like that ever again, what I had to do, that won't happen. If I have to struggle at all to make the weight, I won't do it. But if we feel we can get down and the weight is coming down smoothly, then it's not out of the question. I would love a rematch in a heartbeat."

I have no idea why Pavlik feels like he needs to make an excuse about why he lost to Martinez. Sergio has been a force at both 154 and 160, and Pavlik gave him a very difficult fight. Also, I'm not sure that talk of a rematch is the best thing to be focusing on right now. Pavlik just needs to get a couple of fights under his belt (he hasn't fought in over a year) and get back into the swing of boxing. I used to be a fan of Pavlik's style and I would love for him to get back into the ring, but he needs to focus on baby steps right now. Do you guys think that Pavlik should be trying to get a Martinez rematch or just focusing on getting back to the ring?