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.

continue

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.

continue

Garcia defeats Salido; Golovkin stops Rosado

YouTube video
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.

continue

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.

continue

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.”

continue

Gavin Rees sees Broner as a Mayweather clone; he doesn’t think he’s the real deal

broner5352By Michael Collins: Gavin Rees (37-1-1, 18 KO’s) may be considered an underdog against WBC lightweight champion Adrien Broner (25-0, 21 KO’s), but he doesn’t see himself in that role and he thinks he’s going to beat Broner next month in their fight on February 16th.

Rees thinks Broner is just copying Floyd Mayweather Jr’s fighting style, but he doesn’t think he’s got the same kind of talent and he wants to expose that in their fight in the United States at the Boardwalk Hall in Atlantic City, New Jersey.

Rees said to Sky Sports “He’s [Broner] a Mayweather wanna be. We’ll see if he’s the real deal on February 16th. I don’t think he is.”

Broner is a better version of Mayweather in my view. He’s got better defensive skills and his power as better as well. I think Rees is going to be in for a rude awakening when he steps inside the ring with Broner. Rees is going to take a lot of punishment in this fight, and he’s going to have to possess a good chin to take Broner’s power for any length of time.

continue

Salido-Garcia, Golovkin-Rosado & Martinez-Burgos tonight on HBO

By Jeff Sorby: Unbeaten WBA middleweight champion Gennady Golovkin (24-0, 21 KO’s) will be making his fifth defense of his title against Gabriel Rosado (21-5, 13 KO’s) in the co-main event on the Oscar Salido (39-11-2, 27 KO’s) vs. Mikey Garcia (30-0, 26 KO’s) card on HBO at Madison Square Garden, in New York, New York, USA.

Also on the card will be WBO super featherweight champion Roman “Rocky” Martinez (26-1-1, 16 KO’s) making his first defense of his title against challenger Juan Carlos Burgos (30-1, 20 KO’s).

continue

Arum looking to make Donaire-Rigondeaux on April 27th; Mares doesn’t accept offer

donaire22By Rob Smith: Top Rank promoter Bob Arum says he made an offer to Golden Boy Promotions for a fight between his fighter WBO super bantamweight champion Nonito Donaire (31-1, 20 KO’s) and their fighter WBC super bantamweight champion Abner Mares, but Golden Boy didn’t agree to the offer, according to RingTV.

Arum is now looking to match Donaire against his other top super bantamweight WBA champ Guillermo Rigondeaux (11-0, 8 KO’s) on April 27th at the Mandalay Bay Resort & Casino, in Las Vegas, Nevada, USA.

This could end up a much tougher fight for the 30-year-old Donaire by virtue of Rigondeaux’s superior speed, counter punching, power and defensive boxing skills. Rigondeaux doesn’t leave himself open nearly as much as Mares typically does thanks to his much more cautious style of fighting. Mares would have been a perfect opponent for Donaire with his aggressive brawling style of fighting. That match-up would have given Donaire a lot of chances to land his big left hook shots.

continue