Round by Round – Weekly Boxing Notes

By Dave “Large” Larzelere
The Undisputed Heavyweight Champion?
There has been no true heavyweight champ since Lennox Lewis retired, but on Saturday night Wladimir Klitschko and Sultan Ibragimov will make the first step towards unifying the belts in the first heavyweight unification fight since Lennox fought Evander in ’99. Like that fight, the Klitschko/Ibragimov bout is at the Garden, and though it doesn’t have nearly the juice of its predecessor, something about a heavyweight title fight always brings out some electricity from the NYC/MSG combo. I’m on the scene and will be ringside tomorrow night – I’ll file a full breakdown on Sunday.
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Wherefore the Ghost?
I’m beginning to worry that Kelly Pavlik is going to disappear from the middleweight ranks sooner rather than later. It’s economics – all the good money fights for him are at higher weights. Felix Trinidad’s dad is insisting that a Pavlik/Tito bout be fought at 168, which means that the scheduled Pavlik/John Duddy bout is just about done for June at the Garden. And Duddy is a very good make for Pavlik, no doubt. He has a rabid Irish following in NYC, and he’s an all-action fighter with power and a good beard. But after Duddy, where does Kelly go? Arthur Abraham? Why on earth would he take such a perilous bout for short money? A Tito/Pavlik bout will seem lame to most true fight fans, but it’s definitely the biggest payday on Pavlik’s horizon, so I doubt he’ll put it off for long.
If I Was King ... or Don King ...
Let me offer two pie-in-the-sky ideas for Pavlik bouts at 160. Neither has a chance in hell, but I’ll unburden myself anyway:
1. Bernard Hopkins
Bernard has never gotten over feeling that he was robbed of the middleweight title in his two losses to Jermain. What better way to prove it than to get back down to 160 and beat the man who has twice now beaten Taylor? With his style, he could pull it off – I’m not sure Kelly would know what to do with Ex. That said, it won’t happen, because Bernard put on so much muscle-mass to get to 175 that getting back down to 160 at his age would be next to impossible. Also, that Roy Jones rematch is going to happen eventually whether we want it or not.
2. Oscar De La Hoya
Don’t laugh. First of all, Oscar looks like a true middleweight these days. Second of all, watching Jermain fight Pavlik the other night, it occurred to me that Oscar could beat Kelly if he was at his best (a big if, I grant you). Third of all, the fight that many people have presumed would be Oscar’s last – a Tito rematch – seems impossible to me if Tito can’t fight below 168. Oscar would be a small but reasonable 160 – anything higher is unimaginable. So why not let Pavlik build his star by knocking Tito out himself on PPV, and then beat Pavlik in the last fight of his career to retire with a championship in his SIXTH weight class? Well… this will never happen for any number of reasons, not the least of which is that Oscar is highly uninterested in potentially getting his beautiful face smashed in by a slugger like Pavlik. Pacquiao has a better chance at getting an Oscar fight. (Below, check out the conclusion of Oscar’s only prior fight at 160, when Bernard served him up a plate of chopped liver.)

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