Cotto and Pavlik each soundly defeated their respective foes this past weekend. For good reason, however, the opponents, were not world class.

Pavlik has made three defenses of the belts he took from Jermain Taylor against Jermain Taylor, Gary Locket, and now Rubio. Because of his defeat at the hands of Bhop in November, the Rubio fight was understandable, and in his defense, Rubio was a top-ten ranked middleweight (although that is probably a result of the dearth of talent at middleweight). When is it fair to be critical of Pavlik's choice of easy opponents?

Same goes for Cotto. If Cotto doesn't fight Clottey or Mosley in June and instead opts for an easy opponent, when is it fair to criticize him?

Since losing to Calzaghe, Kessler has fought Sartison and Haussler, and there is talk of him fighting another no-name fighter in Gusyml Perdomo (Kessler-Perdomo, Nuzhenko-Senchenko: Both Possible - Boxing News). Everyone understood the Sartison fight, and although there was criticism for the Haussler fight, people let it slide because of his expressed desire to face top competition. If he fights Perdomo, is it time for his ranking to drop?

Is two 'gimme' fights the limit after a loss for how many tune-ups fight fans will tolerate without criticism of a champion?