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Mailbag: Hopkins-Pavlik brings up weighty issue

Yahoo Sports

One wonders what Manny Pacquiao must have been thinking as he watched Bernard Hopkins tear Kelly Pavlik apart on Saturday in Atlantic City, N.J. Because while Hopkins had a 13-pound advantage in the ring on Saturday (185-172), he and Pavlik are natural middleweights.

Hopkins has fought the bulk of his career as a middleweight and spent most of his career fighting as a small middleweight who could easily have made 154.

Pacquiao is a lightweight who is going to fight a super welterweight on Dec. 6 when he meets Oscar De La Hoya at the MGM Grand Garden in Las Vegas. So Pacquiao will be at a much greater size disadvantage against De La Hoya than Pavlik was against Hopkins.

And Hopkins was clearly too big and too strong for Pavlik.

The possibility for a Pacquiao injury in this fight is very, very real. This is something that should not be ignored. He is a much smaller man fighting a man who can punch. De La Hoya is a good puncher at 154. And while Pacquiao is an exciting fighter, defense isn't his strong suit.

He's going to be open and De La Hoya is going to catch him at some point in the fight with a left hook. Hopkins' size advantage, at least in part, helped him deliver a savage beating to Pavlik. Pacquiao is going to get much worse from De La Hoya because De La Hoya is so much bigger.

When you compare what they weighed at the same age as pros, De La Hoya has a 21.25 pound edge when looking at them from age 22 (when De La Hoya turned pro) until age 29 (Pacquiao's current age).

That size advantage, along with what we saw in the Hopkins-Pavlik fight, does not bode well for Pacquiao.

I hope I'm wrong about this but I'm afraid that I'm right.

On that scary note, I'm going to delve into the reader mailbag, which deals exclusively with your reaction to Hopkins' tremendous victory over Pavlik. My answers, as always, are in italics.

LACE 'EM UP

I rest my case. All you so-called boxing experts don't know crap. All you guys do is get paid to predict a fight by using the stats you've researched. I told everyone Bernard Hopkins was going to school Kelly Pavlik, who is cool with me as a champion. However, Pavlik and a bunch of so-called sports experts learned a hard lesson on Saturday. I have a hard time respecting the opinion of some of these guys who have never laced up before.

Mychael
Washington, D.C.

I'll give you credit, Mychael. At least you wrote me before the fight with this stance. However, it's simply ridiculous to think one has to have been a fighter to understand the sport or be able to analyze it properly. And what do we make of those pro fighters who picked Pavlik? I spoke to probably 20 fighters before the bout and I think it went something like 12-8 in favor of Hopkins. Enjoy the gloating, buddy.

POINT PROVEN

Bernard really proved to the world he is a Hall of Famer. B-Hop taught a good lesson to a fighter who is at the top of his game and who has no excuses to make. No one can say Bernard fought a finished fighter. He should be rewarded for this performance with good words.

Chiko
Portland, Maine

Bernard would have been a first-ballot Hall of Famer had he been knocked out with the first punch of the first round. This performance, though, simply adds to the legend. He was, and is, superb.

STUNNING

I was surprised Hopkins won and was shocked at how easy he made it look. How much do you think the extra 10 pounds had to do with it (not making excuses!)? I think Pavlik slowed down considerably and lost some pop. Oh, please, don't even start the Hopkins-Roy Jones talks again. That has been played out. What about Hopkins-Chad Dawson? Now I would pay to see that.

Pat Davis
San Diego

I wasn't shocked he won, but I was shocked at how easily he won. I picked Pavlik, but I said to many people it wouldn't have been a stunner at all if Bernard figured a way to confuse Pavlik and pull out a win. But to dominate from first bell to last? No way I envisioned that. The weight played a role, and I'll talk about it more in the next question, but I think Hopkins' movement and ability to exploit Pavlik's weaknesses were more important than the weight. As for a Dawson fight, Dawson undoubtedly would want it. But it wouldn't be a big-money fight for Hopkins, and thus is unlikely to happen. The Dawson-Tarver fight on Showtime on Oct. 11 did just a 1.4 household rating and had only 376,000 viewers. That isn't going to catch Hopkins' attention.

WEIGHT ISSUES

Hi, Kevin. Would you agree that the weight difference was a big factor in the Pavlik-Hopkins match? As soon as I heard he was fighting Hopkins, a bigger and defensive fighter, at 170 I thought it was a bad match for him. I didn't expect a blowout but I read that Pavlik only weighed in at 172 the day of the fight and Hopkins was at 185. I don't have any boxing experience but I used to wrestle and that big of a weight difference can be a huge factor in regards to strength. At 160, I don't see Pavlik being overpowered like that

. Jon Earle
Charlestown, Mass.

There are weight classes for a reason and Pavlik is not a light heavyweight. Period. Hopkins would have won the fight had they weighed the same, because he was far more skillful and knowledgeable than Pavlik. But the effect of Hopkins' blows took a greater toll on Pavlik than they would have if they were the same weight and that blunted any chance of a late Pavlik comeback. As a power puncher, Pavlik always believes he's in a fight. But because he was getting pummeled so badly, his power had no impact in Saturday's bout. He was feeling Hopkins' punches more than normal and Hopkins was taking his better than normal.

CLASSY ENDING

I was more than happy to hear the words of encouragement offered to "the nice guy" Kelly Pavlik by Bernard Hopkins during the post-fight interviews. In a sport with way too many inflated egos and verbal assaults, it was truly great to see and hear respect be given for a change. My hat is off to Bernard Hopkins for showing once again that age isn't a factor and being so gracious to the opponent he just had defeated. He is correct, as well, as Pavlik shouldn't think of this as a loss but more as an extremely valuable learning experience. That being said this sport truly needs more class act boxers like these two gentlemen.

Kevan Murphy
Des Moines, Iowa

Most boxers are classy and are good guys, Kevan. I'm just glad that Bernard took the time to show that in a public setting.

WORDS COME BACK TO HAUNT

Kevin Iole: "Pavlik by decision. Hopkins has been fighting to survive in his past couple of fights. In this fight, Pavlik is younger and stronger, and he will outwork Hopkins to get the win." Given this was your prediction, were you more shocked or surprised by the outcome?

Sean
Richmond, Va. I'm more shocked that you found this. This quote came from one of Bernard's publicists, who polled a number of boxing writers. But to answer your question, Sean, I'm not shocked by Bernard's win, because has done this so many times in the past. I'm shocked by his dominance and I'm shocked by Pavlik's ineptitude.

UP NEXT

With Bernard Hopkins once again showing us that he's truly an ageless wonder, what cards do you see him on in the near future?

Mark Domsic
East Lansing, Mich.

There aren't a lot of attractive alternatives, Mark. Bernard's best bet is if Roy Jones Jr. defeats Joe Calzaghe on Nov. 8. If Calzaghe wins, Hopkins would fight him, but I don't think Calzaghe would go for it. Calzaghe already has a win over Hopkins and I'm not sure he'd see the upside in another bout. He has said he'll retire after a Jones fight and if he wins, I think he'll stick to that. A dark horse in this race is former super middleweight champion Jeff Lacy. If he wins impressively over Jermain Taylor on Nov. 15, he could become a challenger for Hopkins. Other than that, though, the field is slim. Another long shot might be (and sit down for this one) WBA heavyweight champion Ruslan Chagaev. Chagaev is the smallest of the heavyweight title holders, having weighed less than 230 in each of his last three fights. Hopkins could probably bulk up to around 200 and would see that as an ultimate challenge before retirement. And it's a fight I think he could and probably would win.

HOPKINS IS A LEGEND

It is good to see somebody finally give Hopkins his due diligence. Hopkins had been robbed of his fights with Taylor and especially Calzaghe. That was probably the biggest robbery of my era. Hopkins' perceived racial comments swayed the judges into giving Calzaghe the victory. Even Calzaghe knows he lost that fight, whether he wants to admit it or not. Hopefully, Roy Jones will right that wrong come Nov. 8. Pavlik was clearly out of his league fighting this legend and I am happy Hopkins won, because I was the only one that I know that said he would beat Pavlik.

Mark E. Flowers
North Carolina

You're not the only know who knew Hopkins would win, Mark, because I have had about, oh, it seems about 100,000 people who've e-mailed me who absolutely knew how the fight would turn out. Funny thing, though, all the sports books here in Las Vegas, where I live, are still open. Imagine that. All these people knew who would win the fight and the books didn't go under.