Hardcore fans have wanted to see middleweight world champion Kelly Pavlik face titleholder Arthur Abraham of Germany for quite some now, but I wouldn't hold my breath.
Both sides talk about trying to make it, but I've been down this road before with other fights and I'm not buying it just yet.
Pavlik got back to his winning ways last Saturday night with a solid, if unspectacular, ninth-round TKO of mandatory challenger Marco Antonio Rubio. It was a wonderful event for Pavlik's hometown of Youngstown, Ohio, where the mood was festive at the sold out Chevrolet Centre. It came across incredibly well on television as the fans were into it all the way even though it was not a particularly memorable fight.
But what was important was that Pavlik took care of business, shaking off his nontitle loss to Bernard Hopkins in October, and the fans seemed to love it.
Meanwhile, across the Atlantic, Abraham is preparing for his next defense on March 14 in Germany against Lajuan Simon, a fighter from Philadelphia for whom I have yet to determine a reason why he's getting a title shot.
Ideally, Abraham will win and come back to the United States he was here last summer to bludgeon Edison Miranda in their rematch this summer to face Pavlik in the best fight the middleweight division has to offer. It's the best fight that can be made at middleweight, by far.
If only it was that simple.
Pavlik promoter Bob Arum of Top Rank told me the other day that he's planning for Pavlik's next defense in late June or July in Cleveland, which is about an hour from Youngstown. It's an ideal spot for Pavlik to fight because of its proximity to his hometown and the fact that there are larger arenas, more people and more money there than in Youngstown.
Abraham is conspicuously absent from the list of potential opponents. The opponents Arum listed for me were, in no particular order, junior middleweight titleholder Vernon Forrest, an older fighter who's still good but doesn't exactly get anyone overly excited; former junior middleweight titleholder Sergio Mora, who is 1-1 against Forrest and whose promoter, Jeff Wald of Tournament of Contenders, has already had preliminary talks with Arum; John Duddy, the popular New York-based Irish fighter; and Felix Sturm, the other titleholder from Germany who is not nearly as dangerous as Abraham. Arum said Sturm was a long shot because he's fighting April 25 and the timing would be difficult.
But there was scarcely a mention of Abraham from Arum until I pressed him on it. Arum said he'd like Pavlik to fight three more times this year, the summer fight, followed by a September bout followed by one in December. Sounds great, but I'm very skeptical because when is the last time a top champion fought four times in one year?
However, if Arum pulls it off, he said maybe Abraham could be the last bout of the year. Again, I'll believe it when I see it.
Arum said that to make the Abraham fight viable, he needs to be built up a bit in America to maximize the revenue for the fight. But I have a hard time seeing HBO or Showtime investing in building up the fight when I do not believe it will be that much bigger at the end of the year than it is right now, especially because the landscape of legitimate middleweight opponents for either guy to fight in the interim is so weak.
Arum said he was "prepared" to put Abraham on a Pavlik undercard to at least start the ball rolling. Great idea, but, again, I'll believe it when I see it.
"I'd like the Abraham people (at Sauerland Event) to come and sit with me and have a serious conversation. This is not the kind of negotiation you do over the telephone," Arum said, adding that the excellent relationship that his stepson, Top Rank president Todd duBoef, has with Sauerland Event's Chris Meyer could help in making the fight. "But they want $2 million plus German television rights. What's Kelly supposed to do? Not fight for anything? What am I supposed to do? Do an event for nothing? I need the guys to sit down with me and we'll talk about it. To make it the big event it can be you have to build up Abraham here."
From what I understand from other sources, Abraham's side is willing to take a lot less than $2 million, but me telling that to Arum is pointless. He needs to talk with the Sauerland Event folks who promote Abraham.
Sauerland Event, meanwhile, insists it would love a showdown with Pavlik and would be willing to travel to the U.S. to make it happen.
"Last spring we picked up negotiations with Top Rank," Wilfried Sauerland said. "We have also been in constant touch with HBO and Showtime. However, in the last couple of months, Top Rank seemed to have lost their interest in a unification. Bob Arum once said that from a sporting perspective Arthur would be Pavlik's most important opponent, but that his fighter also has to think about earning money. Obviously, Arum shares the view of many experts who all believe that Pavlik would lose against Arthur."
When I was in New York last weekend to cover the Miguel Cotto-Michael Jennings welterweight title bout, I ran into Don Majeski, an old school boxing guy who works closely with Sauerland.
Majeski said that Abraham and his team were ready, willing and able to come to the U.S. after the Simon bout. He said Abraham and Sauerland agreed with Arum that the Abraham needed to built up to the American public before facing Pavlik. Majeski said Abraham was willing to fight anyone the network involved in a potential Pavlik-Abraham fight wanted. I asked him if they would fight the winner of the Paul Williams-Winky Wright fight and Majeski couldn't say "yes" fast enough.
"We are ready to fight Pavlik at any time and absolutely everywhere," Sauerland said. "Arthur would even come to his home town. If Pavlik and his people are really interested in coming to Germany, they should let us know officially. We would be more than happy to make an attractive offer."
Abraham himself is also in on the act, trying to lure Pavlik into the ring. "The only reason why I am still fighting at middleweight is Kelly Pavlik," Abraham said. "I want his belts."
Both sides, at least publicly, say they are interested in the fight. But are they really? I believe the athletes themselves would like to face each other, but I have serious doubts when it comes to their teams. It is a fight, however, that should happen before it's too late.
So maybe instead of Arum and Sauerland talking to the media and networks about the fight and blowing a lot of smoke, perhaps they ought to speak directly to each other and create a little fire.
That's the only way the fight will ever happen.
Dan Rafael
