It's off at least for now, Pavlik is looking for an opponent.
I'd like to see Pavlik-Kessler or Pavlik-Abraham.
Yeah no great caste match ups in this divisions (though Fronch/Stevenson could be good) but some good fights out there.
Was reading an article about Ward which closed with this.
"If one were to find faults with Ward, you could possibly say that he is too good for his own good. Ward is so dominant and his fights so one sided, sometimes you feel that it would be nice to see him go for the knockout. Ward's emphasis is WINNING, not entertaining and because of that, he has been wrongly labelled as boring. There are critics who don’t seem to appreciate him. Personally, I feel his utter dominance over world class opposition, whilst alternating his look depending on the occasion, is anything but boring, but hey, each their own.George Foreman once said, 'Boxing is like jazz, the better it is, the less it is appreciated.'"
It's interesting that these writers haven't applied the same logic to Vladimir in the HW division.
The article contends that Ward is too adaptable to oppose. He is a relatively heady fighter, so we can give him that.
However, generally, and, not to stereotype
too broadly, IMHO blacks age worse in the ring than whites. Especially when hand speed and "athleticism" is the critical factor of their game (it's a critical factor of everyone's game but these things are relative). Ward's at a critical age for a boxer (especially a black boxer IMHO, though Ward doesn't strictly fit the profile).
Relative to the White fighters he'd be matched against upon his return, Ward is
more disadvantaged by the time away from the ring.
It's my feeling that Mayweather, for example, has squandered a huge part of his career out of sheer cowardice, by staying out of the ring. The longer he waits, the worse he will look upon his return.
Great generals know when to attack. At the critical moment precisely when they have grown strong enough (and mysterious enough) to win in a unilateral way yet before the opponent has a chance to grow stronger relative to his own temporary strength.
Of course, with Ward, it sounds like he's legitimately injured so there's little he can do about it.
Strong guys like Kessler or Pavlik have time on their side in this division. If they can keep their sh*t together.
