I guess he answered the call, because he is fighting the very solid Sergio Martinez. That answers some question about his heart. If he can get passed the slick southpaw people will forget that he ducked out of a huge fight with Paul Williams. Unlike most sports writers I believe in something called accountability, so when I say something negative and I'm proved wrong I admit it. I will be the first to step up to the plate and congratulate Kelly if he wins. I wont crown him the people's champion for beating a Jr. Middleweight. He is a much bigger than Sergio but if he beats him easy I will give him some credit. In order to gety back the people's champion chip belt he will have to keep facing tough opponents. We will see what happens in the ring when he gets behind on points. Will he stand up to the test, or will he get frustrated and give up? I made some serious accusations about the Ghost of Youngstown. I hope he can prove me wrong, and become the champion we all thought he would be.
Reasons why I picked Sergio Martinez over Kelly Pavlik
Hand Speed
Sergio will have serious hand-speed advantage against the naturally bigger Pavlik. I think he can counter Kelly and I he doesn't wait too long I think he will beat him to the punch. Sergio was able to get inside of Williams reach and land clean punches because he had such good hand-speed. If he can do that to Saturday he will be able to pick apart and easily win against Kelly.
RECENT TOP COMPETITION LEVEL
Sergio has faced Paul Williams, who everyone thought was unbeatable and made him look human. He fought Kermit Cintron before that and I thought he won that fight easy. Before that though, he was fighting no big names. Kelly's last 2 fights were against Miguel Espino, and Marco Antonio Rubio. He ran through them easy guys but they are no Paul Williams, or Kermit Cintron.
FOOT WORK
Sergio can give you angles and he has tons of lateral movement. He can hit you and get out of harms way before you know it. He has a problem of getting too relaxed, and borderline board in the ring. If he does that against the power punching Champion from Youngstown he will go to sleep. Kelly on the other hand has not much movement and when he does it is on a straight line. People have given him too much credit for out boxing an old Jermain Taylor. If Sergio make this fight into a race Pavlik will lose.
CONFIDENCE
I still think Kelly has doubts about himself after his one sided loss to Bernard Hopkins. He was on top of the world and then it all came crashing down on him. That can destroy a fighters whole career. It is yet to be seen if this has happened to Kelly, but he is showing some tell tale signs of it. Backing out of fights, weak competition, over exaggerated injuries or illness, and calling out the guy you were already to fight. Sergio has not been fighting on a big stage, or top competition all his life. He has realized in his last 2 fights that not only can he compete with the elite fighters of his time but he can beat them. I think his confidence is soaring right now and, I think he will show this against Kelly. He also has a chip on his shoulder after his 2 questionable losses, that can drive him to success.
CAUTION: MY OPINION CAN HURT
Here are some articles that I have written about Kelly Pavlik that either support my argument or destroy it. You can read them and decide if you think I am right or wrong.
WRITTEN DECEMBER 5TH, 2009
Miguel Espino was no Paul Williams and that was proved last night when the fight was stopped in the 5TH. There was no surprise that Pavlik was going to win by KO in his hometown of Youngstown OH. Probably the biggest surprise was the attendance of 3,409 in the 7,000 capacity arena. Even his hometown wouldn't come out to see Kelly fight, maybe it was the economy or maybe it is the fact he backed out of a big fight. Even in hard times and when Tommy Hearns was way past his prime I can remember seeing Detroiters pack venues. I couldn't imagine people not coming out to see Marvin Hagler or any other Middleweight champ in their home town. Then again Hearns and Hagler never ducked anyone and their fans appreciated that. Whats next for the middleweight champ? Hopefully he steps up to fight better fighters and doesn't pull out of those fights.
WRITTEN DECEMBER 18TH
Kelly Pavlik is not only fighting Miguel Espino on Saturday night he is also fighting his own demons. Since the only loss of his career over more then a year ago to non other than Bernard Hopkins, he has only fought once. Everyone in the fight world was excited to hear that he was stepping up to fight the man that nobody else would fight, Paul Williams. He pulled out of the fight multiple times due to an alleged infection. I think he signed that fight knowing that he would not ever even step into the ring against Paul. After a fighter, especially an undefeated fighter, that thinks he is invincible loses like the way he did against Bernard Hopkins that fighter may never be the same. They start to doubt them selves because they know that they can lose, and that is just what Pavlik is doing. To me the whole sickness seems a little bit fishy and some questions need to be answered. 1. Why would you sign a fight when you know you have such a serious illness? 2. Why would you be calling for a fight with the same guy that you already wont fight after the fight was canceled. 3. And most importantly why would you be fighting only 14 days after the fight date of December 5Th? 1. He only signed to fight a great fighter like Paul Williams because he thought it would make him look good and people wouldn't question your illness. It back fired because everyone knew it smelled of b.s. 2. Kelly is realizing that people are questioning his pulling out of the fight so he thinks he needs to do some pr work to right the ship. If his illness was so severe he wouldn't be fighting only 14 days after the last date he was supposed to fight Paul. Saturday night can either be 1 of 2 things for Kelly Pavlik. It can be his road back to respect and prominence or it can be just another fight. He is fighting lesser competition Saturday maybe to rebuild his confidence in him self or maybe just because he is scared. I hope he can win and then step up against greater competition and return to prominence but I think B-Hop stole his heart.
WRITTEN NOVEMBER 10TH, 2009
Kelly Pavlik had it all, the middleweight championship, big time star potential, a good reputation of facing the best, and now he has squandered it all. It all started when he agreed to fight Bernard Hopkins who I said was a dangerous fight and he would lose. The problem is fighters like Bernard Hopkins don't just beat you physically they break you down and beat you mentally. It is honorable that he took the fight with Hopkins but it is stupid that he didn't ready himself for a loss. He was exposed in this fight and beaten so soundly that he may never recover and be his former self. He then announces he is going to step up and fight the man that no one will fight in 3 weight divisions Paul Williams. Everyone was excited about this possible match up because Williams was fighting a real middleweight that could hit and Kelly was stepping up after his loss. Then came the rumors of an injury or some kind of problem with his hands. After that came the postponement of the super fight that was never to be. You know the fighter doesn't want to fight when it was originally scheduled for October 3rd, then it was pushed back to November 21, December 5, and now canceled. The fight was called off when they tried to push it back further and that was just a way of backing out of the fight the easy way. This raised some red flags, why would you work so hard to line up of fight knowing about an injury that severe. Then this whole buisness of pushing the fight back when you never wanted to fight in the first place. Dan Goosen knew he was lying, and so did Paul who called them on their lies and why they are fighting someone else on December 5Th. If "The Ghost of Youngstown" was so ill then why is he fighting Miguel Angle Espino on December 19Th only 14 days later? This whole Pavlik camp is full of shit because they let their fighter back out and helped him make excuses. The only good thing to come out of this whole mess is Paul Williams is going to fight the other guy that nobody wants to fight Sergio Martinez. Fighters should stop making excuses on why they can't fight and just suck it up and fight. They need to fight more often and worry about there legacy not their records. I pray to God I'm wrong and Pavlik is really as sick as he said he was but I wont hold my breath. Thanks Pavlik for fucking it up for the the fans who actually respect this sport and know the history of it.
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