Kelly Pavlik vs Sergio Martinez: This Should Be a Great One

This weekend a Kelly Pavlik and Sergio Martinez will get together for a bout that has the makings of "Fight of the Year" candidate. 

It wasn't that long ago that Pavlik was being considered one of the best pound for pound fighters on the planet. The Ghost's late-2008 loss to Bernard Hopkins changed all that.

I'm not sure it should have.

Pavlik was moving up to Light Heavyweight to fight a naturally bigger fighter when he fought the Executioner. And while Freddie Roach was saying Hopkins should retire rather than take on a young lion like Pavlik, the truth was Hopkins had performed honorably in his previous fight, a split decision loss to Joe Calzaghe.

Since moving back to Middleweight Pavlik has looked like a top fighter once again.

Now he's fighting one of the most dangerous fighters around. 

Sergio Martinez has two losses and two draws on his record and almost every one of those blemishes is more than a little questionable. 

His last fight against Paul Williams was as close a fight can get, with just as many people thinking Martinez won as thought he lost. Williams won the fight by the slimmest of margins with one judge ruling it a draw and another having Williams ahead by a single point. 

In his previous bout Martinez fought to a draw with Kermit Cintron. In that bout Martinez was ahead on one card and tied on two others. 

Throw in a four round draw in Martinez's third pro bout and you can see while many fight fans believe the only real blemish on Martinez's record is a seventh round knockout loss to Antonio Margarito back in 2000. With a lot of fans questioning Margarito's record these days one might argue Martinez could easily be undefeated at this point in his career. 

I wouldn't be one of those fans. I did think Paul Williams won their bout last December and I don't think Margarito was using loaded gloves back in 2000.

But I do think Martinez is a heck of a fighter. 

This should be a very interesting fight.

Both men are fighting at their natural weights. They both have solid skills and good power.

And while neither man is exactly fleet of foot, they both have good hand speed. Good chins, too.

The biggest difference is that Pavlik tends to come straight forward while Martinez moves side to side. That could give Martinez and edge but I think Pavlik will still be able to get to Martinez with solid shots.

Normally, I like to give a prediction on a big fight like this one. But the fact is I really don't know who will win this fight and I'd be lying if I said I did.

So here's my prediction. A very good fight between two underrated fighters. 

Don't miss this one.