Pavlik roundup News and notes

Calzaghe fires back: Super middleweight champion Joe Calzaghe, who opted to fight Roy Jones Jr. this fall instead of Kelly Pavlik, called all the criticism he’s been getting from the Pavlik camp “a bit of a joke.” Calzaghe told the South Wales Echo he wanted to fight Pavlik after the Jeff Lacy fight in the spring of 2006 and Pavlik declined because he wanted to fight for the middleweight title. “And I think we asked him again after he won the title, but he declined again,” Calzaghe told the paper. “I think he is possibly just trying to get publicity off the back of me. Obviously, everyone wants a payday, but he will have to go and find it somewhere else.” The 36-year-old Calzaghe, who said the Jones bout will be his last, said the difference between Pavlik and Jones is “Roy Jones is a legend. This guy [Pavlik] has just started and you can’t talk about him as a great fighter because to be that you have to fight great names and reign for a long time, which he has not done.”

His trainer, too: Calzaghe’s trainer, Enzo Calzaghe, told BoxingScene.com that Bernard Hopkins will beat Pavlik and said Pavlik isn’t in the same class as Jones or Hopkins. He also said Hopkins would score a knockout. “I’m not sure on the round, but I know Hopkins will take him to school,” said Enzo, who also trains Gary Lockett. Pavlik knocked out Lockett in the third round in June.

Speaking of Lockett: Lockett, who writes a column for the BBC, predicted Pavlik would win on points. “I see Pavlik being a little too active for the 43-years-young Hopkins,” Lockett wrote. “And after having to come through a few testing times, as he has done on numerous occasions before, I see him winning a comfortable points decision. Expect Hopkins to cry ‘robbery’ and talk about how old he is and how he can still whip these younger guys but I suspect, as against Calzaghe, there will be no justification to his rants.”

Finally: IBF middleweight champ Arthur Abraham, who is fighting Raul Marquez on Oct. 4 in Germany, told BoxingScene.com he wants to fight Pavlik in the United States. That bout, which has been rumored for months, will most likely happen in early 2009. Abraham fought in America for the first time in June when he stopped Edison Miranda in the fourth round. “I like the American people,” he said. “I made a lot of friends there and when I come back I think a lot of fans will come and see me.”

Joe Scalzo