Money To be Made If Pavlik Can Beat Ward

Money To be Made If Pavlik Can Beat Ward

By Michael Gales Dec 10, 2012

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Boxing betting at Pinnacle Sports sees undefeated Andre Ward as the odds-on favourite to beat Kelly Pavlik in their super middleweight bout at the Galen Centre. Can Pavlik pull off the upset, or will Ward retain his titles?

Ward Big Favourite To Remain Undefeated

Andre Ward will put two titles on the line in this fight – the WBC Super Middleweight title and the WBA Super World super middleweight title.

The odds for this 168-pound battle have Ward as the overwhelming favourite to retain the belts and inflict a third defeat on Pavlik.

Ward enters the fight without a blemish on a record that reads 26-0-0 with 14 wins coming by way of knockout.

After cleaning up the super-middleweight division by defeating world-class fighters such as Arthur Abraham, Carl Froch and Mikkel Kessler, Ward stepped up in weight to fight the world’s best light-heavyweight, Chad Dawson, in September – knocking him out in round 10.

Ward is one of the top pound-for-pound fighters in the world today, and has not tasted defeat since the age of 12.

Trained by the tactically astute Virgil Hunter, Ward rarely gets caught with punches and will look to utilise his ring craft and technical superiority against the big puncher Pavlik.

Road To Redemption For Pavlik

30-year-old Kelly Pavlik will get his chance to shock the world of boxing when he takes on Ward. The American boxer has suffered publicly with a battle against alcohol, which saw him take two extended breaks from the sport in the last three years.

After tasting defeat for the second time in his career against Sergio Martinez in 2010, Pavlik took timeout before fighting Alfonso Lopez in early 2011. After a shoddy display, Pavlik took another nine months out before splitting with long-term coach Jack Loew.

Now under the stewardship of Robert Garcia, Pavlik is on a three fight winning streak (four if you include the Lopez bout) as he looks to regain his form that seen him tagged as one of the best boxers in the world five years ago.

Pavlik’s record reads an impressive 40-2-0 with 34 bouts won by way of knockout. Despite seriously long odds to beat Ward, he does posses the necessary firepower to cause an upset.

Vital Boxing Statistics 

Both Pavlik and Ward use an orthodox boxing stance, however that is were the similarities end.

28-year-old Ward is a slick operator and will look to get in and out before being tagged by Pavlik, and when his opponent misses he will counter with lightning speed.

With a two-inch height and a four-inch reach advantage, Pavlik must use the jab to keep Ward away, however miss and he will be countered.

Interestingly despite fighting in 16 more professional fights than Ward, Pavlik has only boxed 21 rounds more.

This is due to Pavlik’s explosive punching power, however if the fight goes into the latter stages Pavlik may struggle with the superior fitness of Ward.

In terms of punching power, Pavlik is a banger and his hopes of victory will rely on him knocking Ward out – for the first time in his career. Pavlik has a knockout percentage of 80.95%, compared to a measly 53.85% for Ward.

Both fighters have solid chins with neither being knocked out in their careers. Ward climbed off the canvas against Darnell Boone early in his career, while Pavlik came back from a heavy knockdown to beat Jermaine Taylor.

With the original bout cancelled due to Ward suffering an injury in training the new date is expected to be at the end of February. Be sure to check back for updated lines and the new date for Pavlik vs. Ward Betting.

*Odds subject to change

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