by James Slater — As all fans surely know by now, the fascinating world middleweight title fight showdown between Kelly Pavlik and Paul Williams is off again, for the time being, at least. Team-Pavlik, still trying to get “The Ghost” healthy after his suffering of a staph infection on his left hand, wanted a later date to be taken by “The Punisher,” but Team-Williams have said no.
Talking to Ring on line, Williams’ promoter, Dan Goossen, confirmed how his fighter WILL box on December 5th, and that there are four names being looked at as possible opponents for the lanky southpaw.
“He’s going to fight on that date (Dec. 5th),” Goossen told Ring on line. “Paul’s been off too long because of the Pavlik situation and we want him to fight this year. We wanted him to fight in September after the [Winky] Wright fight, but the opportunity to fight Pavlik came up. When the October date had to be postponed the fight almost didn’t happen because we weren’t comfortable with what was going on with Pavlik but we agreed to push it back to December because it was a fight everyone wanted to see..
“And he we are today. Still no Pavlik. We can’t get him in the ring but rest assured we’ll find somebody who wants to fight. I’ve got three or four names that I’m going to pursue for Paul.”
So, who will the man who has captured titles at 147 and 154-pounds face on December 5th at a site still also to be determined? Goossen wouldn’t say who the four candidates are, but, according to Ring on line, one of them is rumoured to be 154-pounder Sergio Martinez.
Whoever Williams winds up fighting, he and his team cannot be blamed for moving on ( at least for the time being) from Pavlik. Though there will almost certainly be some sadly biased people who will come out and claim Williams is “ducking” Pavlik by opting to not wait less than two months for him (January 23rd being the new date put forth by Pavlik’s people), such talk is pure nonsense.
Fighters fight, and Williams is a fighter who wants to be great. So too does Pavlik. It’s just a shame he can’t get his fighting tools in a fit state to be able to try do so.
Maybe the intriguing and potentially explosive 160-pound battle will eventually take place one day. But how will all the enforced inactivity he’s suffered affect Pavlik?