|
December 17th, 2009 | by Coyote Duran, Sr. Editor
 Photo courtesy of Chris Farina/Top Rank Look, I don’t know why people climb Mount Everest. I’m perfectly happy on the ground. It’s easier to enjoy a pulse there, I’ve found. Besides, how many coyotes have you seen near or at the top of huge, skyscraping mountains? It’s probably around the same number of Mexicans you’ll find floating around in the Pacific Ocean (Thank you, Paul Rodriguez, for dissecting the “El Nino” phenomenon).
But those who have actually survived the treacherous journey to the top, and planted whatever flag they happened to have on hand, have described the view from their destination as nothing short of miraculous; a spiritual experience for many. For that matter, if it wasn’t so damn cold up there, why would you even want to leave?
Kelly Pavlik has the best of both worlds. As the Undisputed Middleweight Champion, Pavlik has made it to the top of the 160-pound mountain and stayed there; although residency has been sketchy at best and couldn’t be more dangerous. At the same time, Pavlik is at base camp; peering through shielded eyes, squinting to get a bead on the peak but, for the time being, is rather safe.
Maybe having the best of both worlds isn’t such a good thing. At the very least, it’s a confusing situation for Pavlik, 35-1 (31), who, much like his predecessor, Jermain Taylor, came on like a lion into his contention. Since winning the middleweight crown, Pavlik has fought four times; twice being non-title affairs against Taylor, in a rematch, and Bernard Hopkins, in a division he had no business venturing into, at the time, light heavyweight.
Successful defenses over Gary Lockett and Marco Antonio Rubio made us scratch our heads; reminding us of our least favorite things about Hopkins’ reign at middleweight when “The Executioner” was the Undisputed Champion. With the drama that came packaged with Pavlik-Taylor I, our expectations of “The Ghost” were substantial; much as they were with “Bad Intentions” when he defeated Hopkins for the championship.
Over the course of those two years since Pavlik beat Taylor, those expectations have somewhat dwindled but that has much to do with Pavlik’s two championship defenses.
In June of 2008, the WBO (one of the two sanctioning bodies whose alphabet belts Pavlik holds) puzzlingly granted Lockett a mandatory shot at Pavlik; despite every other decent middleweight contender available at the time. Naturally, Pavlik dispatched Lockett in three.
Last February, four months after his loss to Hopkins, Pavlik returned to middleweight and defended the championship against his WBC mandatory Rubio; stopping him in nine.
It looked as if Pavlik was going to slip any early comparisons to Hopkins’ reign (pertaining to “B-Hop’s” obsessive attachment to satisfying ill-granted mandatories) by facing a live dog in Paul Williams. As anyone not stuck in a cave knows, Pavlik pulled out due to a staph infection that nearly cost him his life. Of course, Williams went on to engage in a thrilling throwdown against Sergio Martinez on December 5th and Pavlik, much to Williams’ chagrin, signed to defend his championship against “The Contender” alum Miguel Espino, 20-2-1 (9), two weeks later (Live, on Top Rank pay-per-view, from the Beeghly Center, Youngstown State University, Youngstown, Ohio, 9 PM ET/6 PM PT/8 PM central).
Having successfully defended his championship against a WBC mandatory this year means that Pavlik, 35-1 (31), is going the voluntary defense route against Espino; but only in order to keep his alphabet straps.
A two-week window between the last offering of a Williams fight and the Espino fight is a perfect case of being at the top of that mountain, enjoying the view, and standing at base camp wondering what the hell is going on up there.
Espino, however, is standing right next to Pavlik at the base of that mountain and you can be damn certain he’s itching to climb.
It’s funny; all because he’s not a big name in boxing circles doesn’t mean Espino hasn’t done relatively notable things. Espino’s last fight, in March, was a sixth-round stoppage of former WBA super welterweight titlist, Alejandro “Terra” Garcia. Sure, by then, Garcia had lost four of his last six fights (three by stoppage) but Espino’s win meant he beat (what the WBA would consider) a former “world champion.” That means a hell of a lot to a lot of fighters; especially those who still live the working man’s day-to-day. And even in the Garcia fight, Espino was a defending beltholder; fighting to keep what the WBC refers to as their Caribbean Boxing Federation (or CABOFE, for short…why didn’t they just call it the CBF title?) title.
The bottom line is, Espino came in as a guy who’s supposed to be a walkover so the World Middleweight Champion can keep his belts. He knows it. He’s admitted as much. But with opportunity knocking, how could Espino not race to the door; skidding on the mat in the hallway, halfway across to answer? Espino’s getting a relative king’s ransom of $100,000 (a career-high purse for Espino) for this fight and a wealth of more knocks on the door, in the small chance he does beat Pavlik.
If you think Espino’s gonna let Pavlik walk over him, you’re nuts.
If Pavlik walks over Espino, of his own volition and effort, that’s a different story; because the champion will be getting out months of frustration, criticism, accusations and fear of the unknown (whether or not his staph infection would kill him, much less rob him of a fight or his career) out of his system. All of the above are very good catalysts for revenge on fans, promoters, fighters and the media alike, when you think about it.
Call it cathartic, if you will.
And call it a set of brand-new gaiters or crampons (That word’s always bugged me…) for a great new start in getting back up that mountain. Hopefully, if Kelly Pavlik can successfully make that long, arduous trip to the top, he can greet the Kelly Pavlik who’s been up there waiting for the past two years.
Then again, it’s Pavlik’s destiny to, at least, start on that long trip to the top. After Saturday night, it might just be Miguel Espino waiting there for him; rematch flag in hand.
This entry was posted on Thursday, December 17th, 2009 at 2:37 AM.
You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed.
You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.
|
