http://www.boxingtalk.com/pag/article15142.html
PAVLIK GETTING SOFT TOUCH FOR JUNE 7
By George Kimball
NEW YORK --- Despite the names you may have been hearing (Giovanni Lorenzo, Randy Griffin, et al), Boxingtalk.com has learned that the short-list for Kelly Pavlik’s June 7 Atlantic City opponent has been winnowed down to a two-man short list – Gary Lockett (30-1) and Marco Antonio Rubio (40-4-1) – and that the Welshman appears go have a nose in front.
Even though Rubio, the 37 year-old Mexican rated No. 4 by the WBC and No. 5 by the WBO, is more of a known quantity to US viewers, HBO has expressed a preference for Lockett to fill the opponent’s role which became vacant once John Duddy sustained multiple cuts in his ill-fated Madison Square Garden “tuneup” bout against Walid Smichet.
Although Lockett has never fought outside Europe, he has won 14 straight since his 2003 loss to unheralded Yuri Tsarenko of Belarus (who was 12-7 at the time), and is somewhat bewilderingly rated No. 1 by the WBO. Facing him now would presumably forestall any nettlesome mandatories, but HBO has another reason for preferring Lockett: Since the 31 year-old from Cwmbran is trained by Enzo Calzaghe, a Pavlik-Lockett matchup might prime the pump for a more lucrative meeting down the road between Pavlik and Enzo’s son Joe, assuming the super-middleweight champion gets by Bernard Hopkins in their non-title fight in Las Vegas next month.
Should Lockett slide into the June 7 title fight, undefeated Irishman Andy Lee will likely face Rubio in the televised co-feature, in what would represent the first installment of a three-bout promotional arrangement Top Rank and Lee manager-trainer Emanuel Steward agreed to last week.
“Obviously, the level of competition is going to be a big step up for Andy,” said Arum. “But if Lee is even three-quarters as good as Emanuel believes he is, then he’s going to be a superstar in the middleweight division.”
Although he would unquestionably represent a step up for Lee, Rubio is hardly invincible. He was knocked out in one round by Kofi Jantuah on the Hopkins-Oscar De La Hoya card in Las Vegas four years ago, and dropped back to back 2006 decisions to Kassim Ouma and Ukranian Zaurbek Baysangurpy. He has since won seven fights on the trot, all of them in Mexico and against relatively undistinguished opposition.
Assuming he gets by Rubio, Lee’s next Top Rank fight would likely be against a contender atop a September Boxing After Dark card.
Arum said he had no objection whatsoever to Lee’s already-scheduled March 21 ESPN2 main event against Brian Vera or to a tentative date atop an April club-fight card in Detroit, but one casualty of the arrangement might be Lee’s anticipated return to his hometown in the main event of a proposed May Brian Peters promotion in Limerick.
“Andy is still a young kid and he obviously needs to stay busy,” said the Bobfather, “but May is really too close to the June 7 date, and we wouldn’t want to jeopardize that.”
Less than an hour before Duddy entered the ring against Smichet on Feb. 23, Top rank and Irish Ropes had put the finishing touches on a contract that would have paid the Irishman $1,450,000 for a June 7 Pavlik fight, but Arum suggested that Duddy’s fans shouldn’t hold their breath expecting that fight to happen – and not just because of the multiple injuries Duddy incurred in his disputed majority decision win over the ungainly Tunisian.
Cuts to both his right and left eyelids, as well as a gash below his left eye, are expected to keep Duddy out of action for at least six months, but he may have given up his place in line for longer than that. The whole notion of a Pavlik-Duddy fight at the Garden had been predicated on Duddy’s 5,000-strong hard core New York fan base, but based on the reaction of his once-adoring fans to the Smichet verdict, it is now unclear that the Derry middleweight could still deliver those numbers.
“Duddy looked dreadful,” said Arum. “I don’t know what happened. He may have been overanxious because the Pavlik fight had already been agreed to, and the cuts didn’t help, but what I saw didn’t measure up to a world-class fighter. This guy (Smichet) wasn’t the fastest fighter in the world, but he was able to hit Duddy with everything he threw.”
“I told (Duddy’s) people that before Kelly could even consider fighting him, I’d have to see him fight and beat a credible opponent first,” added Arum. “Right now I couldn’t even talk about a Pavlik-Duddy fight with a straight face. Even discussing it would be a disservice to Kelly Pavlik.”
