The Truth About Kelly Pavlik

On Eastside Boxing you see a lot of fighters with amazing followings. One of the three fighters with the biggest support on the site is Kelly Pavlik. When Kelly Pavlik defeated Jermain Taylor nearly two years ago he gained a lot of fans and respect from the boxing community. Kelly Pavlik was becoming a success story. HBO talked about how he was out of Youngstown, Ohio coming from a blue collar working family etc. There was even talk about him taking on Joe Calzaghe. So the sky was the limit for Kelly Pavlik. There was only one problem. He never faced Bernard Hopkins. In that matchup Hopkins exposed Pavlik as a one dimensional fighter. We never really saw that at first because he was knocking people out left and right. His televised fights werent even going the distance, the only one being his rematch with Jermain Taylor. I watched Pavlik vs Hopkins last October, and I couldnt believe how easily Hopkins actually exposed Pavlik. When the world was caught up in Kelly Pavlik all they saw was a champion, and a knockout artist. First off his first problem against Hopkins was simply going for the knockout the entire fight. Pavlik doesnt throw the jab often, so he cant establish anything behind the jab since hes strictly a power puncher, he lacks quality movement, very little skill, cant work well at angles, and his combos are very slow. Hopkins exposed that in their fight in October. Kelly Pavlik didnt face quality competition coming up in the ranks he did face a weight draned Edison Miranda, and fought a possibly weight drained Jermain Taylor. I personally think that Pavlik is a guy who got lucky. I dont think Pavlik would beat the same Jermain Taylor who beat Hopkins twice, I dont think Pavlik beats Winky Wright, or even Arthur Abraham whos 2 dimensional. Kelly Pavlik is a great puncher who knocked out a champ to become champ and that was his claim to fame. The truth is Pavlik has always been and will always be the same fighter he was in the Hopkins fight because you cant teach a dog new tricks. Dont get me wrong I like watching Pavlik but as a fan I would like to see him get better as a fighter and improve his skill