By Joe Scalzo

June 8, 2008

2 comments

As I watched Kelly Pavlik at his post-fight party inside Caesars a few minutes ago, I thought back to his fight with Edison Miranda last May.

I remember being inside his locker room afterward and his face was all cut up and bruised and I kept thinking, “Geez, and this is the guy who won.”

That fight with Miranda was a brawl, a war of attrition. Tonight’s fight was more like a construction project, with the hammer beating the nail. Pavlik had a scratch on his forehead, but he was otherwise unscathed. He’s near the height of his powers and he gave the type of performance you expect to see when someone of his caliber goes up against someone like Gary Lockett. Pavlik spoke to the crowd at the party like someone who had just come back from a quick workout.

I think the first 10 questions of Pavlik’s post-fight press conference focused on his next bout. (Lockett didn’t make it to the press conference, having been hospitalized with some vision issues; he should be OK.) Everyone wants to see him fight Joe Calzaghe, especially Top Rank chairman Bob Arum, but I’m extremely pessimistic that the fight will happen, at least this year.

If you’re Calzaghe, why would you fight a dangerous young fighter like Pavlik when you can fight Roy Jones Jr. for the same money and a fraction of the risk?

My best guess is Pavlik will fight challenger Marco Antonio Rubio (who has been in serious talks with Top Rank about a Pavlik bout) in September in Cleveland. And Pavlik will do the same thing to Rubio that he did to Lockett. There’s really not anyone in the middleweight division who can seriously challenge him, although IBF champ Arthur Abraham is probably the one who would give him the best fight.

There will be more on this in Sunday’s and Monday’s papers. Buy them. In fact, subscribe. Operators are standing by.