Kelly Pavlik: Knucklehead or Hero?

Youngstown's pride is a likeable, tough and rough and ready guy, but I have to wonder what he's thinking? Does he not watch boxing? Is he surrounded by idiots? Is he a fool? Harsh questions to be sure, but warranted now that he seems to have busied himself squandering his marketability so feverishly.

How else can his recent matchmaking decisions be explained. He had climbed the mountain. He'd defeated the undisputed middleweight champion, then beaten him again. He was king of the hill and could look down from his throne and pick the fights he wanted, even alphabet belts be damned. So what does he do? He immediately challenges the former middleweight champion of the world in a non-title bout. Does he force Hopkins to lose down to 160lb? No. He decides to move up to Hopkins' new weight at 168lb.. Does he have anything to gain? No. If he wins, then he beat an old man, finally past his prime at 43. He won't even get a belt...just pride. Did he have everything to lose? Yes. If he loses, he not only takes his first loss, but does so to an old man who ruled his division for 10 years before stepping up. If he loses, he'll be regarded as a lesser champ than the true titleholder he preceded...and he'll feel that way too. He risks undermining both his marketability and his own confidence.

And so pride went before the fall, as the cagey Hopkins went deliberately against his own style, stepping out aggressively and pummeling Pavlik for 12 rounds, easily defeating him, handing him his first loss, destroying his luster of invincibility and sure enough...putting doubt where none had been before. Why would a fighter make such a stupid move? Well...Kelly Pavlik once said he would fight Godzilla if his promoter put him in the ring with him. So, it's the handlers, then. And shame on them because apparently they have don't understand what it means to have a meal ticket.

Even after the monumentally stupid decision to fight Bernard Hopkins, Pavlik's handlers apparently searched and searched for a fighter who could beat their guy. Bowing to the alphabet gods, they matched their guy with Sergio Martinez. Now here's a guy who could actually probably mirror Hopkins' fight plan, for which Pavlik clearly had no answer. He's got that kind of athletic skill. But even if he chose not to, there were other ways he could beat Pavlik: speed of hand and speed of foot. And so he did.

Though Pavlik took as many as four of the middle rounds, along with a gift knockdown call, he was badly outmatched. It's a credit to Pavlik's determination that he was willing to take the shots in rounds five through nine necessary to compete. He stepped inside Martinez' punches, timed him and dished out punishment, but he had already been softened up and when he began to bleed around both eyes, it was more than even he could overcome. Martinez' conditioning was such that he could keep moving all night. His speed advantage was such that he could shake his shoulders, bolo his punches and taunt the middleweight champion of the world at will. And so he did.

And for what? Pavlik didn't have to take this tough a fight. He could have taken a half dozen fights before even considering fighting anyone this tough. With any of those fights, he would have been comparably paid and his contract with HBO was clearly intact regardless of the level of opponent. He not only didn't need Sergio Martinez...he should have stayed far away from a fighter as gifted, but unrecognized as Martinez. Then why take it? If not for the money or the recognition, then why? Could it be that Kelly Pavlik really cares about whether he is the best fighter? Whether he deserves to be the middleweight king? Could he really actually be so willing to answer that question that it matters less to him whether he wins or loses, than that he test himself?

If the answer is yes, then Kelly Pavlik is both.