Edwin Valero?s alleged murder of his wife became the big boxing story of the weekend Sunday. But the way Kelly Pavlik lost Saturday and the way Lucian Bute won seemed plenty vital at the time, and that impression lingers.
Pavlik (36-2) badly cut near each eye, lost a unanimous decision to Sergio Martinez (45-2-2) and surrendered his WBC and WBO middleweight titles. Bute (26-0, 21 knockouts) stopped Edison Miranda (33-5) in the third round to retain his IBF super-middleweight title.
WBA super-middleweight champion Andre Ward of Oakland and junior middleweight belt-holder Paul Williams, the two gems of promoter Goossen-Tutor?s boutique, were arguably the most interested bystanders.
Although Ward seems pre-eminent among the elite 168-pounders in the division?s Super Six tournament on Showtime, he has been finishing second in most comparisons to Bute, and that impression was reinforced Saturday. Although Miranda fared a bit better against Bute in the first two-plus rounds than he fared against Ward last May in Oakland, Bute?s left-uppercut knockout punch in the third was a thing of beauty Ward has yet to match in any spotlight. Bute also looked physically more imposing than Ward up against the relatively short Miranda, (who became a Goossen-Tutor client after the Ward fight).
After Ward wins the Super Six, the Bute fight could loom large, indeed. Don?t forget Andre was calling out Bute before the Super Six and before his Miranda fight.
Williams has been the most ominous contender to Pavlik among the middleweights for at least a year, but their match set for November 2009 fell through, and Williams instead fought Martinez, winning a disputable decision.
When Pavlik was even more confounded by Martinez?s speed and movement in the first four rounds Saturday than Williams had been in December, Williams, at ringside, seemed pleased. When Pavlik was able to start landing his left hand and won the middle rounds, including an inconsequential-looking knockdown that probably put Pavlik ahead after eight rounds, Williams looked even more distressed than Martinez. But that changed.
In the ninth, Martinez reestablished his earlier tempo and landed a punch that turned the tide for good. ?He just caught me a nice left hand, and he cut me,? Pavlik said. ?He started moving, he adapted, and you know I had a hard time seeing.? Pavlik said. Martinez?s ability to double up on power shots often made the second punch impossible to see, much less evade, Pavlik added.
Martinez, a charismatic Argentine who nevertheless hasn?t come close to escaping the shadow of the legendary Carlos Monzon, would be a much bigger deal if he were to land a punch like the one Bute landed Saturday. At least he finally got the benefit of the scoring, which had been most shameful when his 2008 whipping of Kermit Cintron was judged a draw.
Although Williams is scheduled to meet Cintron on May 8, he and Martinez will probably have a rematch before long. Meanwhile, Pavlik?s skill and fortitude Saturday made him virtually as compelling an opponent for Williams as is Martinez, even given how great the Martinez-Williams fight was last December. Williams, long shunned in the welterweight as being too tall to beat, is becoming a far more appealing opponent as a middleweight.
So for Dan Goossen, even though Miranda?s career was pretty much shot by the loss to Bute, the weekend must seem like a win-win. If Cristobal Arreola wins his heavyweight bout next weekend against Tomacz Adamek, Goossen-Tutor just might seem to be the best promoter, pound-for-pound in the fight game.
