Now, the recent arguments have led me to this more-or-less interesting debate: Canelo has got pretty big by now, could he have handled a peaking Pavlik..?
I respect and like a lot both fighters, and I don't need you to tell me at all costs who would have won in your opinion, just say it if it really inspires you.
Either way, at least please try to figure out how the fight would've been like, roughly.
Canelo vs Pavlik
Re: Canelo vs Pavlik
Canelo is a beast (PED's aside). He would have stomped down Pavlik. I don't think we've seen the best of Canelo yet.
Re: Canelo vs Pavlik
Canelo's style is very demanding: trading shots, keeping coming and coming... if he wants to have a rather long career, he must concentrate much more on his defence and counterpunching. IMHO. You can't fight like today's Canelo at 37 years old, look at GGG...
Re: Canelo vs Pavlik
His conditioning is key to longevity and he doesn't have a huge 'walk-around' weight like some other fighters do/did. If he keeps creaming the Rocky Feilding's of the world, he won't be doing too much in terms of rounds.
Re: Canelo vs Pavlik
I have tons of respect for Canelo: he's one of the few fighters I acknowledged from the start and didn't upset me (I thought it was going to happen with Kirkland, Lemieux, Bute, a few Italians, etc. but it didn't happen).oogiebe wrote: ↑31 Dec 2018, 15:04His conditioning is key to longevity and he doesn't have a huge 'walk-around' weight like some other fighters do/did. If he keeps creaming the Rocky Feilding's of the world, he won't be doing too much in terms of rounds.
I knew he was going to become a bulldozer... as far as I'm concerned, he'll keep asphalting his opposition as always: he has no match at middleweight, and he'd become a serial killer if he gets back at superwelterweight (he should be officially past that, already).
The guy has terrific work-ethics: turned pro at 15, at 23 he was fighting TBE, proves he's no underachiever, and responsibile: I believe he could've handled GGG even earlier than he did, but he must have had to follow his promoters' plans. Fair enough.
Now I don't know how I feel, tonight: if I've fallen 'neath the wheel, if I've lost or I've gained sight, to quote The Boss: who knows if I'm raving about Canelo or not, fact is, as much as I wouldn't like him getting beaten down by the one of the most dangerous middleweight punchers/upsets in history (my mind goes also to McClellan... trained irresponsibly), I would like to see this happen. I'd pick a 100% fit Pavlik over peaking Canelo in a slight decision: smaller Canelo would put Pavlik in troubles with his speed, but end up courageously bruised like GGG.
Re: Canelo vs Pavlik
Pavlik was a really tough fella, but Canelo could have appeared to be too crafty for him. Kelly had been outboxed by slicker competitors.
Re: Canelo vs Pavlik
More than craft (of which Pavlik had tons of, forget his less-focused period...), Canelo's better asset vs Pavlik would be speed: Pavlik hit hard, knowing where and when to hit, altho fast-hands wasn't his main asset...
...not that Canelo isn't crafty enough, but Pavlik was Golden Gloves at 16, U. S. National under-19 Amateur Champion at 17, and was a pro by 18 years old, holding a no-less-than-scary (to me, at least...
) KO rate even Canelo could hardly reach in the future.Not sure if you've been perhaps underestimating all the above-pointed out arguments.
