Pavlik looking to prove who’s still king

April 16th, 2010

This Saturday when middleweight champion Kelly Pavlik (36-1, 32 KO’s) steps into the ring at Boardwalk Hall in Atlantic City, he’ll not only be trying to make fourth successful defense of his 160 pound title, but he’ll also be looking to make a statement that he’s still a force to be reckoned with.

In the year 2007, Pavlik finished up as one of the hottest things going. He went 3-0 that year, with 3 KO’s. Two of his fights were candidates for fight of the year. The other was a candidate for knockout of the year. He was also a substantial underdog in two of those three fights, but rose to the occasion to KO Edison Miranda in a title eliminator and then did the same to Jermain Taylor to win the middleweight crown.

Pavlik began 2008 with a mandatory defense against England’s Gary Lockett, a guy who no one except the WBO felt deserved a title shot. Nevertheless, Pavlik did what he had to do and disposed of him within four rounds.

During the TV broadcast, TV commentators discussed how he could soon become the centerpiece of the American boxing scene with Oscar De La Hoya then nearing retirement and Floyd Mayweather having at that time announced his retirement (which turned out to be nothing more than a hiatus).

Pavlik was profiled by ESPN and on his way to superstar status, when he took a nontitle catchweight fight against former two division world champion Bernard Hopkins in October 2008. Pavlik, battling illness, was battered by the ageless Hopkins for 12 rounds and arguably didn’t win an entire round.

Since then, he’s defended his middleweight title twice against lesser opposition on small PPV shows in his hometown of Youngstown, OH. But he’s back on the big stage this Saturday.

It’ll be in Atlantic City, the site of his biggest wins and worse night, and shown on HBO, the network that has carried his biggest fights. It’ll be the first time HBO has produced a Pavlik fight broadcast since the Hopkins disaster.

His opponent will be junior middleweight titleholder Sergio Martinez, an Argentinean southpaw slickster who has the style that could present Pavlik problems.

It’s a big fight and a dangerous fight. It’s a fight that will prove to us is Pavlik can reclaim the same glamour that surrounded him in 2007.