Undefeated IBF middleweight champion King Arthur Abraham is backing Kelly Pavlik to take care of business against Bernard Hopkins on Saturday night. “I have a lot of respect for both fighters,” King Arthur said. “Normally I´d say the better man should win but in this case I am supporting Pavlik for a simple reason. I want to be the first man to defeat him. I want to fight him as soon as possible to unify the titles. I will even come to his home city to prove that I am the world´s best middleweight boxer!.”
However, King Arthur said he will take one step at a time. “I have a tough fight coming up against Raul Marquez. My full focus is on November 8. Marquez is a very experienced and strong fighter and I need to be at the top of my game to defeat him. Once I have beaten him, my management can focus on the showdown with Pavlik.”
After promising negotiations a couple of months ago, Sauerland Event have not heard back from Top Rank, Pavlik´s promoters, in a long time. “Ever since King Arthur´s spectacular KO victory over Edison Miranda we have not heard from them,” Wilfried Sauerland said. “We had already reached common ground on key questions like the date, January 24, as well as the purses but all of a sudden Pavlik seems to be shifting his attention to other fighters in a different weight limit. I wonder why that is? Maybe Pavlik is trying to avoid Arthur? Before moving up, Pavlik should really try to unify the titles in his division. If he was a true champion, he would fight Arthur.”
Sauerland also revealed that Winky Wright showed no interest in taking on Abraham in Germany. “We have been negotiating with his camp and offered him to fight King Arthur in Germany,” Sauerland said. “But his management turned it down.”