08.06.08 – by James Slater, photo by Naoki Fukuda – Now that the fight many experts correctly said was a mismatch all along is over with, in Kelly Pavlik-Gary Lockett, are we fight fans going to see a genuine super fight involving “The Ghost” and a Welsh fighter? You know who I’m talking about, Joe Calzaghe. And while Calzaghe’s team mate Lockett had absolutely no chance in Atlantic City last night, “The Pride of Wales” himself would surely have more than a good chance of becoming the first man to beat the big-punching and extremely popular Pavlik.
But will the fight happen? And if so when? Well, the two men who can make the fight happen, promoters Bob Arum and Frank Warren, spoke immediately after last night’s easy three round win for middleweight world champion Pavlik and discussed the possibility of the match-up..
Arum said he’s in talks with Warren for an October 18th date for the super fight. No weight was mentioned for the bout, but Arum said that if the October date could not be made then Pavlik would fight twice more this year in defending his middleweight title – in September and then again in December. There is no doubt Arum wants the fight, but his British counterpart in Warren says it is all up to Joe Calzaghe.
Speaking to Setanta Sports moments after his fighter Gary Lockett had been dismantled, Warren had the following to say about the proposed fight seemingly all of boxing wants to see.
“It’s Joe’s decision, first of all,” Warren said about a Pavlik fight. “There are a couple of good opponents out there for Joe. But, at the end of the day, Joe is the man, not [Roy] Jones or [Kelly] Pavlik. A fight with Pavlik would have to be made at super-middleweight, firstly. But it remains to be seen how good Pavlik can be. He does fight in straight lines, he’s good at coming forward, but I want to see what happens when someone puts pressure on him.”
When he was reminded by the guy interviewing him that Jermain Taylor put pressure on Pavlik and almost beat him, Warren agreed and made no bones about the fact that he feels Calzaghe is a much better fighter than Taylor was/is.
So, will the super-middleweight dream fight get made? Like Warren says, it all pretty much depends on Joe. Kelly Pavlik has made it clear he rates Calzaghe and would like to fight him. Calzaghe, on the other hand, may well feel as though he has nothing more to prove and retire after a fight with someone like Jones.
Let’s hope not, because a Calzaghe-Pavlik fight could well be something truly special indeed!