01.02.07 – By Jim Amato: When Kelly Pavlik of Youngstown, Ohio recently halted rugged Jose Luis Zertuche on January 27, 2007, he sent a clear message to the middleweight division that he’s for real. Don’t doubt it for a minute. The trouble is, where does he go from here? There was talk of him meeting the brutal punching Edison Miranda. That will have to be put off since Miranda is fighting undefeated Allan Green on March 3rd.
Of course, Pavlik could take on the winner of that bout. Champion Jermain Taylor has not shown a major interest in a match with Pavlik. To the best of my knowledge, Winky Wright has shown no inclination to meet Pavlik, either. Of course, there is the remote possibility of a match with the game Arthur Abraham for the IBF title belt. I was trying to compare Pavlik to another boxer, when it hit me. With his height, reach and power, he has a lot of Bob Foster’s qualities.
Granted, those are some pretty big shoes to step in to, as Foster was one of the greatest light heavyweights of all time and he is one of my personal favorites. Still, I do see some of these qualities in Pavlik.
First of all, Pavlik has a great confidence in his talents, much like Foster did. I met Pavlik at a banquet a few years back and he had barely a dozen fights at the time. Already, he was talking about meeting guys like William Joppy, Robert Allen and Antwon Echols who were firmly entrenched in the middleweight ratings.
Like Foster, if Pavlik can keep an opponent at the end of that long jab of his, the big rights will follow. Zertuche gamely found out just how hard Pavlik could clout with that right. Pavlik even owns a nifty little uppercut. Pavlik’s trainer is Jack Loew. I know quite a few people in the Youngstown area and they all speak very highly of Mr. Loew. Obviously, he’s done a great with Pavlik.
There is one thing I see that Pavlik hasn’t quite developed. If a boxer was able to get by the Foster jab, he had an answer for them. It was that short, devastating left hook. It put Dick Tiger and Mike Quarry to sleep and I’m sure it did not do Vincente Rondon much good. I’d like to see Pavlik shorten that left hook on the inside. Pavlik is not a bad inside fighter but that is probably where he is the most beatable. A nice little compact left hook in the trenches could really discourage a fighter like Edison Miranda from trying to walk right through Pavlik.
Pavlik is not afraid to mix it up and he has shown poise under fire. I think he has the tools to beat Miranda, Green, Abraham and possibly even Jermain Taylor. The one guy I’d avoid is Winky Wright. That guy just has a way of making everybody look bad. Still if it’s Wright he must fight, I feel Pavlik can outpoint him from long range.
Is Kelly Pavlik the best middleweight in the world? Well, the jury is still out but he deserves a fight against a top dog. Then and only then will we see if Pavlik will join the other Youngstown greats like Harry Arroyo, Ray Mancini, Greg Richardson and Jeff Lampkin as a champion.