Pavlik vs Espino Set For December 19, Top Rank PPV

[Rantcatrat]

Giving Pavlik the benefit of the doubt, if he is just now healing and the Williams fight was to be on December 5th, he may have felt he needed more than four weeks preparation. Williams was offered 12/19, but decided against it, and rightfully so, they had been dragged along for months. Still, Espino?!? There had to be better opponents than Espino. Had to be. I mean as a replacement for Pavlik Williams went with Martinez, yet Pavlik replaces Williams with Espino?

I remember you pointing out that I criticise Pavlik and his team alot. I said his team was ducking Abraham and it would appear the same is happening with Williams. Whats annoying is that he has the power to compete in top fights, but it appears Arum and the rest of team Pavlik have little to no confidence in his ability to cope with world class opponents anymore. This opponent is a joke.

I may have singled you out, but I wasn't trying to be a prick because it's not just you. I think of the big name american fighters, Pavlik is hated on this board the most other than maybe Allen Green. CFH hates him the most of any active fighter and Hattonthehammer's opinion of him is not much better. Admittedly, I like Pavlik. He seems like a regular guy and he gives back to the community he comes from. I appreciate that.

And to say Pavlik is a bitch who generally ducks fighters is horsesh*t. He fought Miranda, Taylor twice, and went up ten pounds to fight Hopkins. That doesn't sound like a guy who is scared. The Hopkins loss may have brought him down to reality a little bit. But, he then beat Rubio, who although limited, was a top ten middleweight at the time.

I totally agree that Espino is a joke. Why else is Pavlik only being paid $500k for a middleweight title fight and doing it in Youngstown?

Listen, if he fights Espino and then doesn't fight a top guy, I'll be the first to admit he is ducking tough fights. I'm goign to give him the benefit of the doubt for a weak 2009, but if he continues this way, he drops big time in my book.

Again giving him the benefit of the doubt, what probably happened is that Pavlik hasn't been as professional about his training recently and his team decided he needed an easy opponent to get him back into the swing of things before fighting an elite level boxer. Maybe they aren't confident that his hand is back to normal and want someone that doesn't require a full training camp. That said, another viable option is that he actually is ducking Williams. We'll see if he fights him after Espino.