According to Secondsout and a couple of other websites
Non-title affair up at 170lbs... Thats fine if Pavlik is looking for Calzaghe afterwards @ 168 as is being suggested, but if he's gonna drop all the way back down to 160 for Abraham, that seems a bit iffy (unless he'd fight Abraham at 168 too?)
Personally, I'm a big Pavlik fan, but i'd rather see him fight Abraham at 160 and then move up to SM.
johnty1888 wrote:I agree with you - sort out the middleweights and then move up.
Me too, but Arum couldn't come to an agreement with any decent Middleweights, so I understand it. Hopefully the Abraham fight will still happen early next year at Middleweight.
Autobarn wrote:Hopkins won't be as strong at 170 as he is at 172 or 174.
But I doubt Pavlik carries 170 well at this level. It could slow him down.
That said, it's workrate that beats Hopkins now. Pavlik will throw a lot of shots, as Calzaghe did. Hopkins won't do enough.
I think it's shameful that Hopkins is still allowed to fight on HBO after the dreadful, negative showings vs Calzaghe & Taylor.
I'm not sure Pavlik will doing any bulking up whatsoever as he's probably still aiming to defend his middleweight titles, which could be part of the reason he wasn't best pleased at the choice of opponent (although I'd imagine the bulk of that is geared towards Hopkins' style).
The more I think about it, this is a horrible fight - especially for Kelly. He's worked himself into a great position, and now he's being thrown in with a guy he'll get little to no credit for beating, and will likely make him look horrible. The one thing he might get out of it, is that if he beats him clearly, people might say it's a better win than Calzaghes, but thats it.
Why can't they get the Winky fight done @ MW, if not Abraham?
They should have fought Rubio - who had already apparently signed for the fight - and then gone for Abraham. Stay at middle while you can.
If Calzaghe had just committed to fighting Pavlik - rather than RJJ - none of this crap would have happened.
Arum hasn't thought about long term career planning here, he's just thought about money. What if Pavlik picks up a nice paycheck and is spoiled to death, so badly in the fight that no one gives a damn about him afterward?
Arum should have kept pavlik knocking people out, kept him busy, kept his weight down, kept him looking devastating. If it goes wrong, I have no sympathy for them.
Hopkins only turns up to exaggerate an opponent's weak spots, rather than actively doing something. I wish these Golden Boy jokers would vanish. Best I can hope for is that Pavlik finds a way to stop Hopkins, or shake him up a few times, so that we see no more of Bernard.
Bernard will fight like he's preserving himself for the next PPV event.
Hopkins will pick him apart for a late KO. Pavlik has been hurt before and Hopkins chin is excellent. When it gets into the late rounds the counterpunches will take there toll.
I rally hope Pavlik stops him. The world had seen enough of Hopkins in the 2 Taylor fights. That was more than enough. Since Hopkins became establishment, he's been terrible.
Hopkins must have nine fecking lives. I'd much rather have the Pope's balls in my face than watch him fight again. Every time I do, I age 5 years. I'll be dead soon!
I hope this isn't a trend towards fighters going against "marquee" names before cleaning out their division first, or at least unifying something. Two big names doesn't mean a big fight and I think Sturm and Abraham are worthy enough.
leforge wrote:What has Hopkins done to deseve this chance
Nothing, but he is a name, and that equals money
To be fair, Bernard isn't the big money star he used to be. His buy rates and ticket sales in his recent fights haven't been great. Pavlik's haven't been as high as I'd hope either, but HBO have now made him one of their main stars.
leforge wrote:What has Hopkins done to deseve this chance
Nothing, but he is a name, and that equals money
To be fair, Bernard isn't the big money star he used to be. His buy rates and ticket sales in his recent fights haven't been great. Pavlik's haven't been as high as I'd hope either, but HBO have now made him one of their main stars.
He will generate a lot more money than Sturm though, and more than Abraham as he is not a household name(Abrahams a harder fight too)
I dunno if it would be a lot more, but more based on their lack of exposure, it would be but Abraham is unbeaten and the Yanks love two unbeaten fighters matching up.
I'm concerned that he isn't maintaining at 160 and is instead jumping all round the place. A 170 pound fight with Dawson would've been better than Hopkins. But I guess the Tarver fight is already signed now.
Pav will probably outwork the old master but I hope BHOPs can see some weaknesses to exploit and throw 1 last roll of the dice. BHOPs is competiting with Archie Moore to be the best 40+yo fighter ever
Gray-Fox wrote:Hopkins could win this. Write him off at your peril.
It's certainly possible, as we don't know how Pavlik will perform at 170. I'd much rather have seen Pav build his legacy at 160. I don't know why Golden Boy keep matching fighters from different weights, the mooted DLH-Pac matchup being the most ludicrous one so far.
I know, he's got a lot to do before he can be considered a great middleweight. If he's going to go up in weight, it should be to 168 to fight someone like Kessler.
ben k wrote:Hopkins will pick him apart for a late KO. Pavlik has been hurt before and Hopkins chin is excellent. When it gets into the late rounds the counterpunches will take there toll.
You must be joking.
Hopkins will clinch endlessly, whine like a bitch to the ref and fiddle his through the most boring fight Pavlik will ever be a part of.
Maybe Kelly is trying the old fashioned way to call Joe out - doing it in the ring rather than talk the talk ala Witter and Hatton. If he beats Bhop and beats him well then it will be two fingers to Joe C and the ultimate you must fight me now. Although deep down I think He's wasting is time as Joe doesn't give a shit about his legacy, RJJ proves it, he is only concerned about making some dosh against over the hill marquee names. I think RJJ has one great fight left in him and against Joe it could well be!
Kelly vs. Kessler, my that would be a fight to get everyone going!
leforge wrote:What has Hopkins done to deseve this chance
hmmm lets see, Middleweight champ for 11 years, then arguably beat Taylor twice, beat P4P Tarver, then beat P4P Winky then arguably beat Calazage, fornicate all to be mixing with the likes of Pavlik, I think we should have Pavlik-Locket 2 instead or Pavlik-Duddy
