by James Slater – At last, both Kelly Pavlik and Paul Williams have a fight they themselves and we the fans can look forward to! According to Dan Rafael over at ESPN.com, both teams came to an agreement yesterday evening and the fight, for the world middleweight championship, will take place at Boardwalk Hall in Atlantic City on October 3rd. TV giant HBO will televise.
Both sides have travelled a bumpy road on the way to finally getting the exciting fight signed, but thank goodness agreements were indeed made; this fight always was too good not to have gone ahead. Both men, Pavlik especially, have been in desperate need for a super-fight of this magnitude for a long time. Neither guy will have any trouble getting motivated for this one!
Reportedly, there will be an official press conference to announce the big fight next Tuesday in New York.
“Goossen and I have agreed to all terms and we are going to contract for the fight,” Todd duBoef, Pavlik’s promoter, said. “We look forward to a formal announcement..”
“I’m just happy that we’ve finally come to terms and gotten this resolved,” Dan Goossen, Williams’ promoter, said. “Now we can move forward.”
This is great news for fight fans. Pavlik-Williams – a genuinely fascinating match-up that could conceivably reach its conclusion in one of close to a dozen different ways – is yet another addition to what could well be a blockbuster end to this year.
The middleweight title fight aside, we also have Vitali Klitschko-Chris Arreola and (likely) Wladimir Klitschko-Eddie Chambers to look forward to up at heavyweight, Manny Pacquiao-Miguel Cotto at welterweight and the return of Floyd Mayweather Junior, against Juan Manuel Marquez, also at welterweight. September through December should see plenty of top class action, that’s for sure.
To many people, however, it will likely be Pavlik-Williams that tops the list of what to look ahead to. Who will win, the welterweight and light-middleweight titlist? Or the man who has never lost at 160-pounds? Will Pavlik be able to cope with “The Punisher’s” height, reach and southpaw stance? Will Williams’ chin hold up to “The Ghost’s” frightening punching power? These are just two questions that will ensure millions of fans will pay-per-view and tune in on October 3rd. This one can’t come fast enough!
A possible classic in the making, Pavlik-Williams, if we’re lucky, may even take us back to those heady days of the 1980s when Tommy Hearns, Sugar Ray Leonard, Marvellous Marvin Hagler and Roberto Duran were thrilling us to new heights.