Speaking with BoxingScene.com's Bill Emes, WBC/WBO middleweight champion Kelly Pavlik tried to make sense of what went wrong last Saturday in Atlantic City when he was dominated by Bernard Hopkins over twelve rounds. Pavlik moved up to a catch-weight of 170-pounds. Some felt he looked sluggish when he fought the February rematch with Jermain Taylor at 166, and looked even more sluggish as a light heavyweight.

According to Pavlik, he couldn't do anything in the ring and it had nothing to do with Hopkins. He felt like there was nothing inside. He didn't feel tired or winded, but for some reason he couldn't get off with any punches.

"What pissed me off the most is it wasn't me in there. Every round I was in great shape, I wasn't tired. I wasn't a bit winded. It was just like I had - nothing. I threw a jab, I couldn't double up on it. He moved to the right, I couldn't get off. When we locked up, I tried to go to the body and I just couldn't do it. I couldn't get anything off and we were just holding," Pavlik said.

"And it's not that he's that good. For crying out loud he lost to Jermain Taylor, twice. I beat Jermain Taylor twice, I beat him by decision and I knocked him out. It has nothing to do with his athleticism or his craftiness. Jermain Taylor hit him at will. Calzaghe hit him at will. It's just that I didn't have anything. That's not my excuse. I'm not making an excuse. I got beat. I got my butt whipped. It was just a bad night, an off night."

When asked if he was ever hurt during the contest, Pavlik told BoxingScene that Hopkins had rattled him twice during the grueling bout.

"I'm not going to lie to you. Twice I was hurt. A couple of times he hit me and the way I was standing, my head moved back and it looked like I was hurt and the crowd got into it, but I wasn't hurt," Pavlik said.

As far as moving up by ten-pounds above his fighting weight, Pavlik is not sure if the weight came into play. He says that his body felt fine with added pounds, but didn't fully rule it out as a possible cause for his performance.

"I felt comfortable [at the weight]. If it did [cause my problems], I don't know of the situation. I'm not going to make an excuse right now because in the locker room, for the last couple of days, I felt great at that weight so I don't know if that was an issue or not. We are just going to go back to the drawing board," Pavlik said.