Kelly Pavlik - The Next Big Hype?

[El Gamo]

Let’s not take anything away from the kid. The win was very impressive. But, as usual, the media is getting carried away on a single win. The same way they got carried away with Miranda’s first round knockout of middleweight Willie Gibbs on HBO.

Pavlik says that Miranda was nothing more than fighter who was overhyped by the media and to a significant degree he’s right. The same thing seems to be happening with Pavlik, who is a much better boxer-puncher than Miranda, but also has some serious defensive loopholes of his own. The kid could hit and take a hit, but also gets hit too much for his own well being. If not for his sturdy chin, he could have been the fighter to taste defeat because Miranda landed plenty of leather as well.

The Pavlik PR machine is moving full steam now. Promoter Bob Arum of Top Rank says Pavlik will be bigger than Oscar De La Hoya ever was. Pavlik has the potential to be big, but he doesn’t have the charisma or the looks to ever be as big as someone like De La Hoya. De La Hoya was one of the few fighters in the history of the sport to create a following among a demographic of fans who barely followed boxing. Pavlik is not the kind of fighter to cross that line.

The boxing media is getting too carried away with this one. We all have high hopes for the kid, but to automatically peg him as a fighter to destroy Jermain Taylor is ridiculous. Think Jeff Lacy. He punched and dominated his way through the super middleweight division until he ran into a roadblock called Joe Calzaghe, who badly dominated him for twelve rounds in their 2006 UK clash. Not only was Calzaghe labeled as a serious underdog, few gave him a prayer of lasting the distance. Nobody could have predicted such a domination of Lacy, but the media built him up as an unstoppable monster. Prior to the bout with Lacy, Calzaghe was not necessarily impressive in the ring with his slap-punching style, but he decisively won his fights.

As history has shown, the public falls in love with punchers like Lacy. Pavlik has the perfect style to feed that love. Sometimes that love gets overblown and blinds many of us from the truth.

Some excellent points there right? (I got it from another site)

[SigmaMu]

I will believe in Pavlik if it means taking out Taylor.
If Kelly takes out Taylor I will be a fan for many days
Let's hope Pavlik/Taylor is made and it should be.
Negotiations should have been in the works the minute Miranda was knocked out.

[zupg]

No!!! Kelly has been here for a long time. It is just nobody has paid any attention to him cuz he is quiet and hasn't got a shot to fight the bigger names of the past few years. I have personally been following him for the past 5 years.(I live in the area) He just keeps getting better. He has been doing what he has done quietly but with a lot of authority. He is just now getting some of the recognition he deserves.

[amat]

A few things.

One, Miranda is a very good fighter. IMO, it is being overblown a tad, but nobody picked Willie Gibbs to beat Miranda. And Miranda TAGGED Pavlik with some excellent right hands. I mean clean. But Pavlik never even seemed hurt to me. It was a lot different because Miranda was a legitimate opponent. He was overhyped a bit, but still withstanding, he beat the hell out of Arthur Abraham and only lost on point deductions. So it's not like he was some bum fighter. I don't even think the Ricardo Mayorga comparisons are valid. Miranda punches surprisingly straight in their fight. His motions were a bit long, but it wasn't like he was out of control and off balance in there. Miranda knows how to land a punch.

He does have some holes in his defense but he compensates for it by banging back. I know it's not exactly pleasing to us on the forum, especially nowadays when almost every champion in boxing has a sound defense. But he has a style that wins him fights and wins him rounds, and offensively he is very sound. So yeah he has holes in the defense, but he's a take some to give some type of fighter.

As for him being a bigger star then De La Hoya, I doubt it. But he has one huge thing that nobody ever seems to want to talk about. He's a white kid from the midwest fighting like the middleweights of old used to fight. Blue collar, lets his fist do the talking. And that will attract fans no matter what. ESPN had him KOing Miranda in their top plays on Sportscenter and talked about the fight fairly early in the fight. He's a white kid who can fight, and America can REALLY get behind that. I would love to see him get on network TV.

Thirdly, he has the style to beat Jermain Taylor. Or at least make one hell of a fight out of it. His defense is leaky, but Taylor doesn't do anything but throw one punch at a time and he's lucky if he gets that off nowadays.

Jeff Lacy is a little different. Jeff Lacy choked. He got the Super Bowl commercial, he grew the beard, went in the English soccer jersey at the weigh in, and he choked. Of course Calzaghe is probably the bigger man but it was to much to soon for him. He had Calzaghe standing in front of him, which is what he wanted, and he didn't do anything. Plus, Calzaghe beat him up on the inside, where no one thought he could. But still, style nightmare.

There is no one like that at 160. Hopkins has gone, Wright says he will stay around 168, and no way in hell Calzaghe fights the guy. It's Jermain Taylor at the division and I honestly think he will batter Jermain. And I hate that because I really like Taylor.

He is being hyped, but where there is smoke, there is fire. And in this case, it is a gotdamn inferno. He really has potential to be BIG. To show that type of heart, oh my God that was just unbelievable to take those shots.

Can you imagine how big of a fight Kelly Pavlik versus John Duddy would be?

I get what you're saying Gamo, it's easy to get carried away, and Pavlik looked far from perfect. But if you look at him in the context of this division, and you really got something. And Arum is getting old, he's going to push Pavlik just as hard as he did Hagler and De La Hoya now.

Honestly, I watched the whole fight today and I am legitimately excited. Kelly Pavlik is going to be a star. Maybe not on De La Hoya's level, but who wouldn't want to see him fight?

[amat]

CC Gamo, good thread.

[El Gamo]

CC back AMAT,you make some excllent points.

"As for him being a bigger star then De La Hoya, I doubt it. But he has one huge thing that nobody ever seems to want to talk about. He's a white kid from the midwest fighting like the middleweights of old used to fight. Blue collar, lets his fist do the talking. And that will attract fans no matter what. ESPN had him KOing Miranda in their top plays on Sportscenter and talked about the fight fairly early in the fight. He's a white kid who can fight, and America can REALLY get behind that. I would love to see him get on network TV.
Honestly, I watched the whole fight today and I am legitimately excited. Kelly Pavlik is going to be a star. Maybe not on De La Hoya's level, but who wouldn't want to see him fight?" AMAT


fWOCKING EXCLLENT POINTS MAN. I totally agree right here. Good analysis.

[Tysonbruno]

Pavlik is the real deal who else has done that to Miranda although i believe some of it was Miranda running out of gas

[LegendBoxing65]

What is Pavliks amatuer record? Does anyone know? I just found out on another topic that Foreman was 25-1 going into the Olympics.. unbelievable.

[Tysonbruno]

What is Pavliks amatuer record? Does anyone know? I just found out on another topic that Foreman was 25-1 going into the Olympics.. unbelievable.

W89 L9

[LegendBoxing65]

What is Pavliks amatuer record? Does anyone know? I just found out on another topic that Foreman was 25-1 going into the Olympics.. unbelievable.

W89 L9

pretty good record. Do you guys want to know an unbelievable amateur record? Donald Curry the former Welt. and Super Welt. champion had a 400-4 amateur record. 400 wins and 4 losses. That is pretty good. Now I might be wrong on that stat but I do not think so.

[Pavlik]

What's to hype he already proved his worth by destroying Miranda. I really wish the best of luck to this kid.

[tedsares]

Let’s not take anything away from the kid. The win was very impressive. But, as usual, the media is getting carried away on a single win. The same way they got carried away with Miranda’s first round knockout of middleweight Willie Gibbs on HBO.

Pavlik says that Miranda was nothing more than fighter who was overhyped by the media and to a significant degree he’s right. The same thing seems to be happening with Pavlik, who is a much better boxer-puncher than Miranda, but also has some serious defensive loopholes of his own. The kid could hit and take a hit, but also gets hit too much for his own well being. If not for his sturdy chin, he could have been the fighter to taste defeat because Miranda landed plenty of leather as well.

The Pavlik PR machine is moving full steam now. Promoter Bob Arum of Top Rank says Pavlik will be bigger than Oscar De La Hoya ever was. Pavlik has the potential to be big, but he doesn’t have the charisma or the looks to ever be as big as someone like De La Hoya. De La Hoya was one of the few fighters in the history of the sport to create a following among a demographic of fans who barely followed boxing. Pavlik is not the kind of fighter to cross that line.

The boxing media is getting too carried away with this one. We all have high hopes for the kid, but to automatically peg him as a fighter to destroy Jermain Taylor is ridiculous. Think Jeff Lacy. He punched and dominated his way through the super middleweight division until he ran into a roadblock called Joe Calzaghe, who badly dominated him for twelve rounds in their 2006 UK clash. Not only was Calzaghe labeled as a serious underdog, few gave him a prayer of lasting the distance. Nobody could have predicted such a domination of Lacy, but the media built him up as an unstoppable monster. Prior to the bout with Lacy, Calzaghe was not necessarily impressive in the ring with his slap-punching style, but he decisively won his fights.

As history has shown, the public falls in love with punchers like Lacy. Pavlik has the perfect style to feed that love. Sometimes that love gets overblown and blinds many of us from the truth.

Some excellent points there right? (I got it from another site)

Pavlick is no Lacey. He punches straight and knows how to close the ring. Laey telegraphed his wide shots.

[RozzySean]

Not only did Miranda beat up Abraham, he BEAT Eastman. Overhyped or not, the guy has some resume and credibility.

As for the Lacy comparision, it's not a accurate analogy. First, Pavik is way, way more skilled than old Left Hook. Pavlik gets hit, but he can defend when he wants. When you include the Miranda fight, he has beat better opposition than Lacy going into his shot at "The Man" in his division. Lacy's last fights before Calzaghe were Scott Pemberton (Ko'd by Manfredo) and Robin Reid (past it). Lets just say Pavlik fights Taylor now. He's coming off wins of McKart (similar level to Robin Reid), Zertuche, and Miranda (WAY better than Reid or Pemberton).

Now he's set to go up against a champ who hasn't looked good in his last two defenses and hasn't dominated an opponent since..... Joppy in 2005?

So I don't think Pavlik is being overhyped. If JT pulls this one off, I will give all credit, but he's not in for walk in the park against his guy. If Jermain thinks Pavlik is overhyped and doesn't see him for the very real threat that he presents, Mr. Taylor is in very big trouble.

[Gandalf]

I dont see anything not to like about Pavlik. His win over Miranda was very impressive. He took a lot of clean punches, but those punches didnt seem to bother him and he kept swinging back. His style is a throwback in that he readily accepts that he will get hit and yet knows that by getting hit opportunities are there in which he can strike back quickly. It just doesnt seem to faze him...

[Tysonbruno]

He will ko Taylor