Match Up News: What Do We Get?
I'm reading Bad Left Hook and Max Boxing this afternoon about a much stronger possibility of Paul Williams fighting Kelly Pavlik. This comes straight from Bob Arum who thinks they have a deal with Dan Goossen, then implies that with Goossen, you never know. Williams/Pavlik was mentioned before but not this strongly. I never thought Paul would stay at welterweight. Work in the obligatory Tommy Hearns comparison here. These guys are meant to at least be middleweights here. Especially as Williams matures, he's going to naturally want to fill out a little more to get his full athletic strength. He's about 6'1 and coming up on 27. It's amazing he can still make welterweight even considering that he's naturally thin. By the time he's thirty, he's not going to be anything under middleweight I don't think. He is the current and two-time WBO welterweight champion.
What would the weight situation turn into? I can only assume that Williams will be so comfortable at a heavier weight that whether he beat Pavlik or not, he'd stay up there in the middleweight division. He could do well there, I feel. How well, we can't say. Some guys have a good chin at welter and get up to middle and have a mediocre chin at best. Same goes with punches. Hell, it could be a disaster or a success.
I like Paul. He had an off night with the first Quintana fight which he avenged in convincing fashion. Now, I think Quintana is a very underrated fighter in an immensely high caliber era in the welterweight division. Williams had a lousy night, actually. But, Quintana, a fine, fine fighter had a great night and knew how to take advantage and work Paul over. There's no shame, it happens. A lot of people started throwing around the word ''exposed'' after that fight. Screw them. Williams wasn't exposed. We all can see flaws in most fighters. Leave it to detractors to extrapolate one lone loss into a ''he was never that good to begin with'' rant. It's disrespectful and ignorant to do that.
So, now Pavlik's potential fights are King Arthur Abraham, another middleweight champion, Paul Williams, a freakishly tall welterweight champion, Joe Calzaghe an aged light heavyweight and super middleweight champion that will never fight him to begin with. Personally, I want to see Abraham VS Pavlik-the natural middleweight champions the most. I do however think that considering the nature of Pavlik's last win over Taylor that Jermain Taylor is still the best contender at that weight. I still rate Taylor very highly and like I have said, feel he should've won the last Pavlik fight.
Edison Miranda is all but out of the picture here. He's dirty, he's been beaten a total of three times by the two real middleweight champions and I think Pavlik's demolition of him has made him vulnerable to being knocked out now. When you get destroyed like that, it makes it easier for the next guy coming at you sometimes (Abraham).
Lastly, there is talk of Jermain getting a fight with Jeff Lacy. Guess what I think? Taylor is way too talented for Lacy. Lacy is a hard hitter but Taylor is much faster and better. I think it'd be a complete outclassing of Lacy. Jermain is more of an athlete and a better boxer by far. But, if Jermain say, defeats Lacy in the domination I'd expect, he could get back into championship territory at middleweight. The difference between Taylor and his recent losses and Miranda with his, is that Taylor lost well. When he fought Pavlik the first time, he almost took him out before it turned around on him. In his second loss, many of us thought it was either far closer than was scored, a draw or a win for Taylor. Miranda lost badly, Taylor lost competitively. He's still on the top shelf here. Don't count him out. If we get to see a third Pavlik VS Taylor fight, I wouldn't be surprised at all even if it ends up at light heavyweight three years from now. Jermain is a competitor. Don't forget it. When the ref called him on Pavlik fight number one, Jermain didn't say ''Well, I suffered a knock out. I better move on and find an easier fight.''. No, he said ''I'm going back again immediately. Bet he can't do it twice.''. That's a fighter.
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