Sports Illustrated released their 2008 boxing awards this week. Not surprising was Manny Pacquiao taking home the award for Boxer of the Year. Topping Oscar De La Hoya this past month was only icing on the cake for Pacquiao’s year in the WBC.
While scouring the list for Ohio’s own Kelly Pavlik, we did find that he was a part of a 2008 award; just not one that he will be too proud of: Upset of the Year.
Fighting a 43-year old Bernard Hopkins did not go as planned for the knockout specialist. After 12 rounds of boxing, it was a unanimous decision for the trash-talking Hopkins. It was also $50 less dollars in my bank account, but I won’t hold that against him.
If you missed the bout you can catch the replay on HBO as they roll out the best fights of 2008 on December 25th. For free. No, I’m not bitter. Not at all.
Author: Scott
Scott is a co-founder/editor of Waiting For Next Year who resides in Cleveland, Ohio. Feel free to follow him on Twitter or email him at scott@waitingfornextyear.com.Scott has written 1701 articles for Waiting for Next Year.
It doesn’t matter how old B-Hop is, he is a dangerous man. Dude is a HOF no doubt. I will say though that if there was to be a rematch that Kelly would get the W now that he knows what B-Hop is all about.
That was an upset? Didn’t think so…
I concur with the other two commenters–there’s no way that was the “upset of the year”. Pavlik “pulled the victory out of the jaws of defeat” several times earlier in his career, and was lucky he made it as far as he did undefeated. That’s not a diss to Pavlik, whom I like as a fighter but that in the past he had a tendency to get himself into trouble and use his power to bail him out.
Hopkins is notorious for making fighters look bad and is a tough matchup for just about anyone. Even as he gets older he’ll still be a formidable opponent–his success has always been based on his tactical smarts, counterpunching ability and a knack for taking opponents out of their game. That’s scary because unlike a fighter that relies on speed, reflexes, or power Hopkins upside attributes won’t diminish as quickly with age. He could still be giving younger fighters trouble until he’s 70.
Hindsight is 20/20 of course, but it was basically Felix Trinidad all over again as Hopkins frustrated a relatively one dimensional younger opponent. I’d have to think about what was the ‘upset of the year’ but this sure wasn’t it….
[...] of a middle-aged Bernard Hopkins. And while Sports Illustrated felt that this was the “upset of the year,” it appears that Pavlik is simply using it as motivation to perform in front of the home [...]
[...] than most pundits anticipated. However, most fans remembered Pavlik as the slower version who could not stop hugging Bernard Hopkins while being completely over matched. A totally different Pavlik performed in front of more than [...]