[Tragichero]

I almost started a post on this tonight myself. In my honest opinion I think this fight will be an EASIER fight, opponent wise then Taylor's last fights with Spinks, Ouma, Wright and the Hopkins fights. I may take the Ouma fight out of there simply because in my opinion that was an easy fight to pick for Taylor. Spinks and Wright have made a living out of being elusive fighters. They both have mastered the art of hitting without being hit. Those fights are tough fights for ANYBODY. Pavlik's style is straight up and straight at you, fairly basic in the world of boxing. Don't get me wrong, Pavlik is highly effective, but it will be an easier fight for Taylor simply because the change of style.

Pavlik hasn't been here before. He did beat Miranda very impressively but for what it's worth Miranda was very weight drained. To prove it Miranda has already announced he's moving up to 168. To be fair though, I think Miranda was highly overrated to begin with. He is known for breaking Abraham's jaw, but couldn't finish him. Miranda hits hard, but his shots are very telegraphed. So, between being weight drained and not being exceptionally good to begin with, the win looks a little watered down.

I think Taylor will show all his tools against a fighter that actually comes after him. People forget, but Taylor hits hard, and Pavlik has been down before against Zuniga. Also, there are reports that Zuniga dropped Pavlik hard during a sparring session leading up to this fight. (For what it's worth, and it may not be much, I used to be a boxing writer, I still have some "inside sources, in no way should anyone thing I feel like a know it all, I am just telling you what I've heard). Zuniga has done most of his work at 154 pounds, but he also just got a big win at 168. Another question about Taylor is if his confidence is shot based on his performances against the previously mentioned fighters. Taylor has always seemed to want to prove something, but he has hardly been spectacular in his outings, despite winning the championship and being undefeated.


Finally, and this is just a gut feeling, but when I watch Pavlik fight I just feel something isn't right about him. If you are familiar with the book "Blink," it's sort of something like that. You can't pinpoint it, but something makes him seem "wrong." If my post was at all helpful before I probably just made a mockery of it now, but that's just how I feel. I think it may be that Pavlik's straight up style seems flawed to me. I don't know if he'll be able to change his style if he needs to. I am picking Taylor by knockout at + 310 on the greek. Once again, I probably took any sense of seriousness out by my last paragraph, but, it is what it is. Hope this helps in some way at all.