What now for Kelly Pavlik?
Everybody has had a Saturday night they would like to forget. However last weekend, Kelly Pavlik suffered one so bad it made a tequila-fuelled rampage through Skegness seem like a classic excursion.
The WBC and WBO middleweight champion lost by way of unanimous decision to Sergio Martinez, a result that leaves his career in tatters.
It seems like only the other day he was being heralded as the saviour of boxing and a future pound-for-pound king. The Ohio-born fighter needs to reassess his career as his stock rapidly falls, those magnificent wins over Jermaine Taylor are now all but a fleeting memory.
On Saturday Pavlik was comprehensively taken apart by Martinez. The Argentinian took the first couple of rounds by staying on the outside and boxing clever. He was doubling up on his left jab, staying away from Pavlik and landing flurries that the champ couldn’t deal with. It was only the middle rounds where Pavlik woke-up and even managed to drop Martinez in the seventh. However just as he looked like he was getting back in “Maravilla” opened up a big gash on Pavlik's right eye which he worked for the rest of the night to secure a comfortable win. A baffled-looking Pavlik stood there in defeat, a bloody mess as judges announced cards of 116-111, 115-111 and 115-112.
To be fair to Martinez, he looked top-class and fought a good fight. He was too clever, his hands to quick and his footwork to good for Pavlik to deal with. The American fighter had no answer for Martinez’s jab and looked anything but a champion.
What happened to Pavlik’s career? It was February the 16th 2008 when Pavlik recorded his second win over Taylor and cemented himself as the golden boy of boxing. Instead of building on this success he proceeded to fight boxers the ilk of Garry Lockett and Marco Rubio. An attempt at superstardom ended in disaster when he was outpointed and outclassed by the veteran Bernard Hopkins in his first venture into super-middleweight, bringing his first career defeat.
Over two years have passed without Pavlik doing anything of note. That is a long time in boxing and now the former WBC and WBO middleweight champion needs to prove himself once more. When he destroyed Edison Miranda and Taylor in the first of their fights, it looked like Pavlik was the real deal. However Hopkins made him look positively average and perhaps set the blueprint in how to beat him.
In 2009 his nickname became a self full-filling prophesy as “The Ghost” disappeared, sighting a cyst injury on his hand. On his returned he ducked Paul Williams for an easy fight against Miguel Espino, while Williams dispatched Martinez. Williams has been calling out Pavlik for years, now the tables may well have turned and it might be Pavlik who needs the super-fight more than “The Punisher”. On the basis of the Martinez fight, Pavlik would not fare well against Williams’ long jab.
Fewer than 7,000 people were in attendance for Saturday’s fight and it might be this loss of support that’s done for the once-loved pugilist. Pavlik has always been a popular fighter; his blue-collared, tough, hard-working style endeared him to most. However reports of wild nights out and getting in trouble with the law eventually began to turn people off The Ghost.
Losing to a 35-year old failed footballer, who three years ago couldn’t find a promoter for love-nor-money, is not exactly going to enhance the American’s reputation either. After Martinez, Pavlik was due to defend his title against Lucian Bute but now Bute is probably going to look towards Martinez, unless Pavlik forces the rematch, which may not be wise. Last week it looked like The Ghost had the division to himself but with Martinez now holding the straps and with Bute and Williams hovering around, it would seem the former-champion is just another contender in a long queue of fighters trying to carve out a living from the middleweight division.
If The Ghost doesn’t want his legacy to vanish, he needs to think about moving up to 168lbs. Only by taking on and beating the likes of Andre Ward, Andre Dirrell and Carl Froch can he prove that he is still a special talent.
Meanwhile Martinez has capitalised on Pavlik’s fall from grace and now has all sorts of career opportunities. Pavlik had been haunting the middleweight division for years and it took a true Ghostbuster to dispatch the phantom fighter.
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