Kelly Pavlik Will Consider Fighting Adonis Stevenson

Former middleweight champion Kelly Pavlik is in action tomorrow night on ESPN Friday Night Fights, where he takes what figures to be another easy tune-up against Scott Sigmon. A bigger offer is on the horizon, though, as the IBF has offered Pavlik a chance to fight a super middleweight title eliminator against Adonis Stevenson on August 11.

If it were to happen, that fight would be the Showtime co-feature to the Tavoris Cloud vs Jean Pascal main event.

Pavlik hasn't committed either way, but does tell the Youngstown Vindicator that he will at least discuss it with manager Cameron Dunkin:

"I’m not in a situation to [automatically] pass anything up," said Pavlik, who said he hadn’t heard the report. "I’ll sit down with Cameron Dunkin and see what he thinks."

I still wouldn't expect Pavlik (38-2, 33 KO) to take this fight. It's high-risk, middling-reward, and right now the focus for Pavlik is on making sure he's in a good place mentally going forward. That, and Top Rank would probably prefer to have him face Julio Cesar Chavez Jr later this year, or perhaps Lucian Bute, which was supposed to happen last year but did not.

It would be great if it did happen, if Pavlik is in shape. I just doubt they're aiming for this fight any time soon. Pavlik may have the hunger back, but he's still got a team around him that will do their best to manage his career the way everyone else's career is managed (for the most part).

Bad Left Hook will have live round-by-round coverage of the Pavlik vs Sigmon card on Friday night. Get to know Scott Sigmon, why don'tcha?