Pavlik vs Espino Set For December 19, Top Rank PPV

[hfahrenheit]

He can fight espi-whoever and he can't fight williams ?? He really just should have said he didn't want to fight the guy and saved them both some time. Not to many people can blame him.

Wow, Pavlik should have waited until AT LEAST February to fight someone else if he didn't want to look like he wasn't dodging Williams...

This officially confirms that people are ducking Williams...there wasn't much evidence before, but this is just blatant...

unless Williams didn't want to move to the 19th, which isn't likely. Maybe this has more to do with arranging dates at the venue, but still, doesn't look good for Pavlik.

[bzkfn]

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.

[Myk_Myk]

It really does appear more and more as if Hopkins huffed and puffed and blew his stick house down...

[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.

[bzkfn]

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.

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.

To be fair, 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.

No I know you weren't, I was just making the point that you can see why. See after Espino, he'll have 2 mandatories to hide behind. He bitched and moaned to the media that he had no idea why Top Rank cancelled the Mora fight because he felt healthy, so he signs to fight Williams and he still has a staph infection. So the re-arrange the fight and he still has a staph infection. Dude can't even close his fist. 2 days after Williams signs for another fight, Pavlik is fighting Espino. Unbelievable.

[Youngblood]

The only plausible explanation for this decision is that Kelly isn't 100%. He needs to be 100% and firing on all cylinders to beat Williams. And even then, it is a who knows, let's see what happens deal.

If there is any other reason then this for the decision for the Espinosa match up right after cancelling, then it's a pretty weak and moot point.

[El Kabong]

...Kelly Pavlik, "ducking" personified!!!! Used to think Kelly was ok, but this is bullshit, fighting 3 weeks after he was scheduled to fight when his camp had said "He was close to dying because of a staff infection"......BOOOOOOO!!!!


Here's Pavlik's new ring walk music
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vdFIXsrjkXI


Hey Kelly!...


And Paul Williams, for taking on SERGIO MARTINEZ when Kelly Pavlik ducked you.....for both you and Sergio, that takes B-A-L-L-S my friend. Both of you are doing good work in boxing.

[Nameless]

from what I've read in that article, it is the WIlliam camp that said it was a no go: apparently top rank proposed William to delay the fight by 2 more weeks but they refused because they were afraid (as the hand didn't look good) to get screwed again, so they went with their own replacement plan in Sergio Martinez. Then, Toprank found another opponent for Pavlik and there we are... hopefully somewhere in march or april they'll make it happen.

[CFH]

Merged

[norbluvs2ride]

what a joke pavlik is! it is so obvious how he was ducking williams.williams would have torn pavlik up from the ground up.i lost all respect for pavlik.he wants to keep fighting nobodys because he thinks that will make him look good.he is a chicken in my book.

[norbluvs2ride]

you aRE A SORRY DUCKING FIGHTER KELLY PAVLIK. WHY DONT YOU FIGHT A REAL FIGHTER?

[Diane]

Here's more info on why he took the fight, from the local paper here.

Pavlik fights at YSU Dec. 19 - Local & Regional News, Pavlik - Vindy.com, The Vindicator

[Myk_Myk]

“Now, [Williams] will be fighting Sergio Martinez in a 3,500-seat ballroom and we’ll be fighting at home. That tells you who the draw is.”

Gee I wonder why your able to get a better draw in that shit hole that has nothing else going for it? Impeccable logic... not! Sorry, if I offended any Youngstonians, but what a douche.

[CFH]

“Now, [Williams] will be fighting Sergio Martinez in a 3,500-seat ballroom and we’ll be fighting at home. That tells you who the draw is.”

Gee I wonder why your able to get a better draw in that shit hole that has nothing else going for it? Impeccable logic... not! Sorry, if I offended any Youngstonians, but what a douche.

I am hard pressed to think of anyone in boxing who I dislike more than Jack Loew. Criminals like Panama Lewis and Margarito excluded of course.

[El Kabong]

I am hard pressed to think of anyone in boxing who I dislike more than Jack Loew. Criminals like Panama Lewis and Margarito excluded of course.

Stoney Stone? Enzo Calzaghe? Rock Neuman? Lou Duva?.....Loew is working his way down to their level