Pavlik: Martinez ‘dangerous’

By Joe Scalzo

scalzo@vindy.com

Youngstown

Kelly Pavlik’s upcoming fight against Sergio Martinez may not be as big as a bout against Paul Williams.

But it might be a better one.

“I think he’s a more dangerous fighter,” Pavlik (36-1, 32 KOs) said of Martinez, repeating a sentence that’s become familiar from the Pavlik camp the past few weeks. “He’s an awkward fighter with good hand speed and good footwork who punches from different angles.”

The 35-year-old Martinez (44-2-2, 24 KOs) is coming off a majority decision loss to Williams on Dec. 5. Martinez was a replacement for Pavlik that night — Pavlik’s hand injury had forced him to cancel — and the Pavlik camp watched the bout with an eye on a future fight with Williams.

Instead, they came away raving about Martinez, feeling he had won the bout.

“He doesn’t have the name of Paul Williams but people who follow boxing know how dangerous he is,” Pavlik said.

Pavlik hasn’t fought a southpaw since knocking out Bronco McKart in 2006, which poses a challenge in itself. The fact that Martinez is an unconventional southpaw makes it even tougher.

“He’s not the typical left-hander,” said Pavlik’s trainer, Jack Loew. “He moves at different angles.”

Most left-handers will go their right to stay away from Pavlik’s big overhand right, Loew said.

“But he kind of goes both ways,” he said. “He waits for you to throw a punch and miss and then he’ll counter-punch. That’s how he knocked down Paul Williams.

“You can’t overextend yourself with Sergio Martinez. You always have to have your body in control.”

Pavlik likens Martinez to a hybrid of Jermain Taylor (fast hands, fast feet) and Bernard Hopkins (good counter-puncher, crafty).

Because Pavlik’s lone loss was to Hopkins, he knows people may be too quick to predict defeat against Williams.

But Pavlik has repeatedly said that loss was due to his struggles, not Hopkins’ boxing ability.

“All the critics go off that one fight,” he said. “It was one loss out of 37 fights. I had an off night. Every fighter has them.

“If that’s what they’re going off of, it’s to my advantage.”

Besides, Pavlik said, he out-boxed Taylor in their second fight — the same Taylor who twice beat Hopkins.

“Jermain Taylor is a lot faster than Sergio Martinez,” he said.

Pavlik has an advantage in size (6-foot-21‚Ñ2 compared to 5-11), weight (although they’ll both compete at 160 pounds, Martinez only recently moved up from junior middleweight while Pavlik is eyeing a move to super middleweight), power (his knockout percentage is 86 percent, compared to 50 percent) and experience (until recently, Pavlik has fought higher-profile bouts on bigger stages).

“As far as experience, that’s the one weakness I’ve seen on his resume,” Pavlik said.

“There wasn’t too many solid fighters until the last couple fights.”

Pavlik’s first three title defenses against Gary Lockett, Marco Antonio Rubio and Miguel Espino resulted in solid victories but they didn’t impress the boxing brass like his previous wins over Taylor, Edison Miranda and Jose Luis Zertuche.

Pavlik believes a dominant win over Martinez will change that — and send a message to Williams.

“By beating the crap out of him, we’ll silence the Williams camp,” said Pavlik, who still hopes to fight Williams in the future. “Winning a decision or by late-round stoppage would be a big thing.”