Quote Originally Posted by miles View Post
Pavlik definitely threw a lot less than what we are accustomed to. That was partly because of Martinez, but also partly because of something only Pavlik knows. You can understand him going into a bit of a shell in the round the punch was caused, but Pavlik threw very little in the final 4 rounds. It was extremely frustrating to watch and it did look like a different fighter than the one we have come to expect. I also didn't know until after the fight about the issues making weight. If he had remained active after Hopkins he might not have developed these issues, but you would have to think that being drained has its own effect upon punch output.

Martinez deserves all the praise, but I do think Pavlik was somewhat below par. No excuses this time though, he was in his own weight class and his opponent was a career 154 pounder.
I think it was because he used what he had in order to take those middle rounds when Martinez went into a second gear Pavlik didn't have one not to mention Martinez's punches landing on his face making him cover up so he couldn't really get off. For Pavlik to get off you have to be standing still and not moving, Martinez kept making him move.