Quote Originally Posted by Bilbo View Post
It will be interesting see iguys like Pirog and Korobov can step up soon.

I'm somewhat surprised you think he beats a prime Pavlik, the fight was actually a lot closer than most people seem to remember with Martinez only pulling clear down the final stretch. He didn't win by more than three rounds on any card. And that was a lackluster, mentally weak, alcoholic Pavlik struggling to make weight with all kinds of problems outside the ring. I think Pavlik on his best night knocks him out. I wouldn't even count him out in a rematch now if he could make weight, which I doubt.

The Dzinziruk win isn't as impressive as people go on like either. A virtually unknown fighter who was fighting outside his own weight class and had no big wins on his resume, unless you count outpointing Daniel Santos and Joel Julio as great wins. He was an ok opponent but no better than Andre Ward or Carl Froch dominating Felix Sturm which I would absolutely expect them to do. If Sturm fought Carl Froch would you expect it to be comeptitive? I sure wouldnt'.

I don't want to sound like I'm hating on the guy, his record is decent, I just don't think it's exceptional, or even that impressive compared to the other fighters I have mentioned.
I like Pavlik. He was a solid fighter when he was on. I just think that he will always have problems with boxers who move and are a little slick. Sergio Martinez has that. But, it's a decent debate.

Abraham is he was healthy at 160 would be a fun fight to see. I sorta think we saw the best of Abraham a few years ago and unfortunately, we never got to see Abraham v. Pavlik at 160 in their primes. I'm not sure he can get to 160 in a healthy way anymore and he is too small for 168.

Korobov has let me down a little bit - mostly because I feel like he'd be further along than he is by now, which puts doubts in my mind that he really is as good as they say. Top Rank is too good at matchmaking to not be moving him at a snail's pace for a reason unless there is some internal issue we don't know about.

Sturm at 160 is a good fight. I'll keep saying it. And Geale may be too. Other than them, I think Golovkin could be a great fighter on the way up. He has a good test in front of him with N'Jikam this fall.

Pirog maybe squandered a chance at fame more than I've witnessed in a while. To go from a shocking HBO KO, to obscurity in a year, is impressive.