Post-fight thoughts

By Joe Scalzo

Immediately after Saturday’s bout, Kelly Pavlik’s promoter, Top Rank’s Bob Arum, said Pavlik’s next fight would be a WBC middleweight bout against Marco Antonio Rubio, most likely around February. Rubio won a decision on one of Saturday's undercard bouts and was in attendance at the post-fight press conference. He’s the No. 1 mandatory challenger for the WBC belt.

The consensus following the bout was that Pavlik was simply not the same fighter at 170 pounds. That was echoed by his trainer, Jack Loew, as well as his manager, Cameron Dunkin, and Arum. Hopkins actually weighed 185 on Saturday, while Pavlik was 172. Pavlik had to add weight and it showed as he had no snap on his punches and very little energy. Hopkins looked like the bigger and stronger fighter.

Pavlik was taken to the hospital after the bout as a precaution.  Loew said he was fine, although Pavlik was in tears after the loss.
“He was thinking clearly after every round,” Loew said.

It’s obvious Pavlik will stay at middleweight for the immediate future. He’s bigger and stronger than other middleweights and doesn't appear to be the same guy when he fights above that weight. The same thing happened last February when he fought the rematch with Jermain Taylor at 166 pounds. The difference was, Pavlik was better in that fight than he was on Saturday and Taylor didn’t possess the same weight advantage Hopkins had.

Hopkins wants Roy Jones Jr. (one of the four fighters to beat him) as his next opponent, although he said he’s willing to fight a rematch with Joe Calzaghe in his home country of Wales. A lot will hinge on next month’s Calzaghe-Jones bout.

As for Pavlik, he’ll be back. He had a bad night, but he’s still just 26. Most top fighters absorb a loss at some point. The key is how he responds.