Across The Pond – Pavlik Makes Sense For Calzaghe

By:  | Posted: Monday, June 9th, 2008 at 8:11 am.

 

JOE Calzaghe has a decision to make in the next few weeks.

 

Does he meet a near 40-year-old Roy Jones Jr in his last fight, as has been mooted, and virtually guarantee ending his career undefeated?

 

Or does he risk everything for more glory against boxing’s rising superstar Kelly Pavlik?

 

After Pavlik’s fearsome destruction of Calzaghe’s stablemate, Gary Lockett, in Atlantic City on Saturday night, many might urge the Welshman to take the first option.

 

But Calzaghe is a fighter - and fighters have historically had trouble passing up challenges.

 

Calzaghe cherishes his perfect 45-0 record and doesn’t need Pavlik to cement his legacy. But even at 36, the urge to face the unbeaten middleweight champion is, I think, going to prove irresistible.

 

A provisional date of October 18 has already been mentioned in what would almost certainly be a pay-per-view blockbuster on HBO.

 

Their respective promoters, Frank Warren and Bob Arum, were due to fly to New York together on Sunday for Warren’s induction into the International Boxing Hall of Fame. It doesn’t take a genius to guess what the topic of conversation would have been.

 

The fight carries great risk for Calzaghe but that’s what will attract him. The same dynamics were at work before Calzaghe met Mikkel Kessler and Jeff Lacy, both of whom were given a great chance of dethroning the Welshman.

 

Calzaghe rose to both challenges brilliantly and would be similarly motivated for Pavlik. But Pavlik appears a completely different proposition to either Kessler or Lacy. At 26, he is younger but already far more seasoned than either of them were when they met Calzaghe.

 

In fact, Pavlik looks on his way to becoming the complete fighter. He had already shown in his two fights with Jermain Taylor that he could dig deep to win. But against Lockett, Pavlik reminded observers what a destructive puncher he can be as he stormed to his 30th KO in 34 bouts to retain his WBO and WBC titles for the first time.

  Although Pavlik was a massive favourite, Lockett’s reputation as a banger made it a potentially risky fight. But Pavlik had taken the bout seriously and seized control from the start, when it was obvious Lockett was way out of his depth.

 

Pavlik bloodied Lockett’s nose in the first round, floored him twice in the second and again in the third before the mandatory challenger’s trainer, Enzo Calzaghe, threw in the towel.

 

Enzo told me last week before flying to the States that the fight was going to be hard, and he wasn’t wrong.

 

The big question now is whether he advises his son to take on the role of avenger for Lockett.

 

Calzaghe, who stepped up to the light-heavyweight division to outpoint the veteran Bernard Hopkins in April, would almost certainly come back down to super middleweight, where he made 21 successful defences in a 10-year reign.

 

It would be asking too much of Pavlik to jump up two weight classes in one go, but he could comfortably build into a 168-pounder in a few months without losing speed or power.

 

After tackling Hopkins in Las Vegas, Calzaghe might insist on Pavlik coming to Wales, giving him home advantage. But financial pressures would probably mean the bout taking place in America, where huge site fees are paid to stage big fights.

 

Wherever it is staged, Calzaghe-Pavlik now looks too big not to happen.

 

Over to you, Joe.

 

 

CATEGORIES:Editorial