Kelly
Pavlik and Bernard Hopkins were a contrast in styles at their news conference
Tuesday. They will be again Saturday in their 170-pound bout in
Atlantic City, but then
the roles will reverse.Here what both
fighters had to say in video interviews.
Four days
before the fight,
Hopkins
was his bombastic self, trying to bait his opponent into betting $250,000 that
Pavlik will become the first boxer to knock out the 43-year-old.
Pavlik, the
26-year-old undefeated middleweight champion, has 30 knockouts in 34 career
bouts. Promoter Bob Arum deflected the dare before his boxer even stepped to
the podium, and Pavlik spoke briefly and without bluster.
“I haven’t
one fight, ever, predicted a KO,” Pavlik said calmly. “I don’t train eight hard
weeks with a brutal workout regimen and put my body through what I do just to
knock somebody out. I go in there to win—12 rounds. If a knockout comes, that’s
great.”
The
aggressive, big-hitting Pavlik better be prepared to go 12 rounds with Hopkins
(48-5-1), the wily former champ with a knack for outlasting opponents.
Hopkins suggested Pavlik
won’t be able to adjust his style to win.
“The last
time I seen or heard is Kelly Pavlik’s been at his best knocking people out and
coming forward and being himself,”
Hopkins
said. “No matter what’s been changed or what’s been added on or what we’re
working on, that’s great. But, trust me, when you’re undefeated and never had
to taste the taste of losing or even lost … (you’re) going to go back to what
(you’re) comfortable with doing.”
Be sure to get your prediction in before fight time!