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Kelly Pavlik: An Appreciation

pavlik43By James Slater – By now, fight fans have almost certainly read or heard about former middleweight king Kelly Pavlik’s retirement announcement. “The Ghost,” 40-2(34) and just 31-years-old, told ESPN.com of his decisions, citing concerns for his long-term health and a lack of drive as his main reasoning. Pavlik was all set to fight Pound-for-Pounder Andre Ward, and the cancellation of this big fight (due to Ward’s shoulder injury/subsequent surgery) reportedly left the Youngstown legend disappointed and this too may have partially inspired his decision to walk away from the sport that made him great and he in turn helped make a little greater.

A genuine blue collar hero and an inspiration to millions of “small guys” the world over, Pavlik especially made the good people of his home town feel proud. This article is intended to say a small thank you to Kelly, a fighter who made this writer jump off the couch on more than one occasion. Pavlik was, above all else, exciting!

Who can forget his give and take battle with the then unbeaten Edison Miranda? The May 2007 win (a 7th-round TKO win for Pavlik) saw “The Ghost” – then aged 25 and, as we now know, in his absolute, arguably never to be better, prime – earn a shot at another unbeaten fighter: the middleweight champion of the world, Jermain Taylor. If Pavlik, a punishing puncher who had a great left jab, a reliable chin and a fine engine, wasn’t at his best against Miranda, he sure was against Taylor.

Garcia tames Salido; Golovkin destroys brave Rosado and Martinez is lucky against Burgos

golovkin22By Peter Wells: After a great night of boxing on Friday night for all UK fans on Boxnation followed by one of the best Prizefighters to date, the whole world was treated to another great nights action to round off a superb weekend. Boxing 2013 has well and truly kicked off, after a triple-header full of explosive punchers.

To kick off the three world title fights was the fight of the night between pressure fighter Roman ‘Rocky’ Martinez and the powerful counter puncher Juan Carlos Burgos. It was to be another classic instalment to the Puerto Rico-Mexico rivalry.

The challenger for the WBO Super Featherweight title, Burgos, started the faster, but both fighters landed heavy blows in the first round. It was an exciting round where Burgos’ quick combinations won the round over Martinez’ single big right hands. The fight stayed relatively in the centre of the ring where Burgos had his most success but occasionally the champion would force his younger foe onto the ropes where he would later have huge success.

Four rounds gone and although the fight hadn’t quite caught fire, Burgos seemed to have taken all the rounds, which invoked a response from the champion in the fifth. Martinez started to force the pace more but Burgos had plenty of success too. Martinez banged his chest whenever Burgos landed a solid punch, calling for the challenger to engage in a brawl that would suit the champion down to the ground.

Garcia defeats Salido; Golovkin stops Rosado

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By Bill Phanco: WBO featherweight champion Orlando Salido (39-12-2, 27 KO’s) didn’t have it tonight as he was beaten by the young Mikey Garcia (31-0, 26 KO’s) by an 8 round technical decision at Madison Square Garden in New York. Garcia was able to knock Salido down four times in the first four rounds with superb power punching.

Unfortunately, the fight was stopped after the 8th round from a head-butt that broke Garcia’s nose. Mikey said he couldn’t breath through his nose. The crowd pretty much hated it with some boxing shouting at Mikey, wanting him to continue fighting. It did seem strange that Mikey didn’t want to keep fighting considering fighting with a broken nose seems to be a common thing. However, Mikey had built up a big lead by that point in the fight so he could afford to have it go to the scorecards.

The judges scored it 79-70, 79-69 and 79-69. Salido was fighting better from the 6th round on and getting to Mikey more and more at the time the fight was stopped. I don’t know if Salido would have won but he was definitely starting to land his shots from the 6th to the 8th. Mikey was stopping a lot of Salido’s attacks by shoving him while backing up. Since the referee allowed Garcia to do this, he was able to stop many of Salido’s attacks with this move.

Pavlik to retire from boxing

pavlikBy Bill Phanco: According to espn, former WBO/WBC middleweight champion Kelly Pavlik (40-2, 34 KO’s) is retiring from boxing after a 13-year pro career. Pavlik is concerned about the health risks for him if he were to continue to fight. He’s not seeing any problems now but he’s worried about could show up later in the future if he were to continue his career.

Pavlik said to Dan Rafael of ESPN “When you stay in the sport too long you have health problems. That’s a big, big thing for me. I’m talking about in the future. I’m talking about when I’m 55 or 60…I don’t think the drive is there anymore. I’m moving on to a new chapter in my life.”

The timing for this move is somewhat strange being that there’s been talk of Pavlik facing former IBF super middleweight champion Lucian Bute in Montreal, Canada. That’s a fight that not only would have given Pavlik a nice little payday but it also could have possibly reignited his boxing career if he were to have beaten Bute.

Fury hoping Wladimir will fight him on April 6th

fury34By Michael Collins: IBF/IBO/WBA/WBO heavyweight champion Wladimir Klitschko needs an opponent for his April 6th fight date in Germany, and thus far there isn’t anyone that his management team has picked out for him. Odlanier Solis was reportedly ruled out for Wladimir, according to Dan Rafael of ESPN.

Unbeaten British heavyweight #4 WBC Tyson Fury (20-0, 14 KO’s) is hoping he’ll get the fight with the 6’6” Ukrainian. In fact, Fury seems almost desperate to get the fight because WBC heavyweight champion Vitali Klitschko likely won’t be fighting Fury anytime soon if ever.

Fury said on his twitter page “Klitschko, if you fight Solis you’re a p***y! Fight me!. Solis is a fat s**t! He got KO’d by Vitali in 2.”

Khan vs. Senchenko possible for April 20th in Manchester, UK

senchenko45By Michael Collins: Amir Khan is reportedly in negotiations with former WBA World welterweight champion Vyacheslav Senchenko for a fight that is possible for April 20th at the Manchester Arena. To make the fight happen, Khan might have to move up to 147, but it’s also possible that Senchenko will come down to 140 for the right price.
It’ll be a big payday for Senchenko because he’s asking for a considerable amount to take the fight.

In picking Senchenko, Khan would be looking to capitalize on the interest that Manchester fans might have in seeing Senchenko beaten after he destroyed their hero Ricky Hatton by a 9th round TKO last November in Hatton’s disastrous comeback attempt. Of course, it wouldn’t be Hatton that is avenging the loss, but for some boxing fans in Manchester it might make them happy to see a fellow Brit to beat Senchenko.

If Khan does move up in weight it’ll only be for just this one because he still feels he’s got unfinished business at 140 against the likes Danny Garcia and Lamont Peterson. Besides that, there are a lot of big punchers at welterweight and I really don’t know if Khan’s chin could handle getting hit hard over and over again by the likes of Victor Ortiz, Marcos Maidana, Kell Brook, and Floyd Mayweather Jr.

Shane Mosley vs. Paulie Malignaggi on Showtime on April 27th

malignaggi24By Bill Phanco: It’s not official. 41-year-old Shane Mosley (46-8-1, 39 KO’s) will be challenging WBA World welterweight champion Paulie Malignaggi (32-4, 7 KO’s) on April 27th in a Showtime headliner fight at the Barclays Center in Brooklyn, New York. There a couple of questions that you have to ask about this fight.

First off, how is that that the International Boxing Federation are going to allow Mosley, who isn’t ranked in the top 15 by any of the sanctioning bodies, to fight for a world title? For that matter, Mosley hasn’t won a fight in FOUR YEARS, and he’s being given a world title shot.

The second question is why is Showtime agreeing to televise this fight as a main event to American boxing fans? I don’t think it’s a good product for fans, especially if you signed up for Showtime in the past just to see boxing. Having Malignaggi-Mosley televised is pretty much a waste of time because Mosley isn’t the same fighter he once was and he’s lost three out of his last four fights going into the Malignaggi fight.

Froch vs. Kessler 2 on May 25th at the O2 Arena in London, England

kessler343434By Michael Collins: Well, it looks like Eddie Hearn from Matchroom Sport has worked his magic and got a badly desired rematch for his fighter IBF super middleweight champion Carl Froch (30-2, 22 KO’s) against WBA 168 pound champion Mikkel Kessler (46-2, 35 KO’s) at the O2 Arena (Millenium Dome), Greenwich, London, United Kingdom.

The only thing that awaits now is the approval from the IBF for Froch to bypass his mandatory defense against Adonis Stevenson, but it looks like the IBF will grant Hearn and Froch permission to maneuver around that dangerous fight.

Froch believes that he should have won their previous fight back in April 2010 in Denmark.

Froch ended up losing by a 12 round unanimous decision largely because Kessler seemed to get the better of him during virtually every exchange they had. Kessler’s superior hand speed and better combinations enabled him to land the cleaner shots against the long-armed Froch. I don’t think much will change other than the fight now taking place in the UK, and perhaps Froch getting the benefit of the doubt if the rounds are close. We might see a controversial decision in this fight, and frankly I’d be surprised if we didn’t.