by James Slater – It’s no secret the quite terrible time middleweight king Kelly Pavlik has had since his October 2008 points loss to Bernard Hopkins. Suffering his maiden pro defeat was bad enough, but the agonisingly slow to heal staph infection, the forced postponement and then cancellation of a couple of big money fights the injury caused him and the inactivity that has gone along with all of this, coupled with the manner in which some fans and critics have turned against him, served to make 2009 a very bad year for “The Ghost.”
Now, finally, the exciting power-puncher returns to action for the first time since February of this year, when he meets durable former “Contender” star Miguel Angel Espino. It goes without saying that Pavlik’s career, after all he’s been through in the last 14 months or so, could really do with the shot in the arm that a spectacular win would provide it with. If a sensational KO cannot be scored, however, a win is absolutely essential..
Forced to fight or risk being stripped of his belts, the 35-1(31) warrior goes into the Espino fight knowing his very career, at least at top level, is on the line. Will this sense of urgency serve to help Pavlik or hinder him? Knowing he himself has nothing to lose, seeing how most people expect him to lose on Saturday, 29-year-old Espino, 20-2-1(9) may well be the more relaxed fighter in the ring in Youngstown.
Pavlik will find out on Saturday if a long layoff affects him and causes him to suffer from ring-rust. Never before in his pro career has Pavlik been inactive for as long as the ten months he has been out for since his win over Marco Antonio Rubio (although to be fair, Pavlik did have a nine month spell out of action between his October 2005 win over Fulgencio Zuniga and his July 2006 win over Bronco McKart).
But Pavlik has not only been out of action; he has been troubled by the stpah infection, he has seen a number of fans seemingly turn against him over the way the Paul Williams fight failed to come off and he has had problems outside of the ring – what with alleged bar fights and his brother being accused of assault. Will all this be on the champ’s mind when he climbs through the ropes inside the ring at The Beeghly Centre in his hometown in a couple of days?
From a fan’s standpoint, it is to be hoped Pavlik can get himself back to the form he showed with wins over Edison Miranda and Jermain Taylor. Still a potentially great fighter, “The Ghost,” when he’s right, is also one of the world’s most thrilling-to-watch fighters. With all due respect to the never stopped Espino, a Pavlik win would see to it that there will be the chance for us to see more potentially dynamite battles at 160-pounds.
Pavlik looked okay, if not great, when he hammered out a clear win over Rubio ten months back. A laying out of the Mexican would have been better than the corner retirement Pavlik forced Rubio to take, but the win was solid enough. Who would have dreamt the troubles Pavlik would have to face soon after his first and thus far only post-Hopkins victory?
Pavlik has been through the kind of bad luck that is sufficient to break many a fighter. We won’t know for sure until the end result comes on Saturday if this has actually been the case with Kelly himself. But a loss, particularly a comprehensive one, would in all likelihood end Pavlik’s career. The middleweight champ knows he can’t let that happen.
There will be a tense atmosphere inside the arena on Saturday, and Pavlik’s fans may well do a bit of nail biting, but in the end the champ will prevail in my opinion – with a clear points win. Then, hopefully, Kelly will put the last 14 months well and truly behind him and move on to a great 2010.