For any of you who think that Youngstown, Ohio would jump off the bandwagon of Kelly Pavlik in the wake of his clear-cut loss at the hands of Bernard Hopkins in October, think again. Because judging by the brisk ticket sales at the Chevrolet Center, where ‘the Ghost’ makes his hometown return against Marco Antonio Rubio, it’s clear that in this region there are four major professional sports franchises that have the undying loyalty of the fans: the Browns, the Indians, the Cavaliers and Pavlik.
Despite the current economy, increasing unemployment and the lopsided nature of his first professional loss, they love themselves some Kelly Pavlik. Despite having ringside seats that were priced at $500 (as compared to $300 for the highly successful show that took place at the Staples Center in Los Angeles on January 24th between Shane Mosley and Antonio Margarito) the large majority of tickets were sold within minutes.
The strong support even stunned Pavlik.
“I was surprised,” he would admit to Maxboxing last week as he was winding down preparations for his next assignment. “Naturally after a loss like that, you’ll have people that will turn away or jump off the bandwagon. But I was really, really surprised when I saw how fast the tickets went on sale, and how fast everybody lined up. Everything that happened, I was kinda surprised and it made me feel pretty good.”
But perhaps he shouldn’t have been, because in the late hours after his loss to Hopkins in Atlantic City, New Jersey, a steady stream of well-wishers would come by his suite, not to offer condolences, but words of praise and encouragement. They will stand by their man through thick and thin.
“Yeah, it definitely shows the support really helps and it gives me another motivation to defend myself and Youngstown,” he states. “The support is awesome. You can’t change that for anything. You’re always going to have guys that say, ‘Oh, he was overrated, he fought bums, he ain’t this, he ain’t that – but when you have the 7,000 people, guaranteed, that are still your fans, that definitely makes a big difference.”
His promoter Bob Arum admits, “Given the economy, I was very surprised, but knowing Kelly’s popularity, I shouldn’t have been.” But according to him, this also speaks to the fiber of the populace that inhabits this region. “You gotta understand, these people are Kelly Pavlik fans and one loss is not the kiss of death. Pitchers win five games and get knocked out, basketball teams sweep the toughest teams and then lose to a team that’s not nearly as good. An athlete can’t be on every night.”
October 18th was one of those nights for Pavlik.
“Now, he had some physical excuses, but that being said, the people in Youngstown are throwback people,” said Arum. “They realize when boxing was boxing, a loss wasn’t the end of the world for these fighters. And the great fighters lost fights.”
Mike Cefalde Sr., a close family friend of the Pavliks, says the turnout and reception in Youngstown was exactly what he expected.
“Kelly’s something that Youngstown is accustomed to, having a hero that when things are down and out, he was a hero to the people, and when he lost a fight, I knew that he would sell a lot of tickets. As a matter of fact, I had conversations with his father, wishing that they would’ve put the fight at Quicken Loans Arena because I knew he would sell a lot of tickets,” he says. ‘The Q’ is home to LeBron James and the Cavs. Arum says that he has already had feelers from that venue about doing Pavlik’s next promotion.
With the casino business in Atlantic City struggling (like everything else these days), there’s a very good chance that Pavlik will fight consistently in Ohio. In an era when most marquee fighters have their biggest events take place in casino venues, Pavlik could be a throwback to a time when a popular fighter pulled up anchor in his home region and carried an industry locally.
?That?s what we?re hoping. We’re hoping he can do that,” said his manager, Cameron Dunkin. “Bob wound up putting a tent in the parking lot for about 2,500 people to watch it on the big screen inside this weekend. So it would be nice to find a bigger place. It’s just really hard when it’s that cold there right now. If we could find a building that would hold 12-15,000 people, I’d love for him to fight there consistently.”
There had been some talk of doing an outdoor fight at Cleveland Browns Stadium, but in that part of the region, for much of the year, weather is a concern.
Cefalde, who has helped organize bus trips to Atlantic City for Pavlik’s fights through a local bar, Eastside Civics, along with sponsorship packages for his promotions, believes that Pavlik can consistently do large gates in Ohio and all throughout the Midwest – which has been dormant for years.
?He can do that because it showed right now, with this economy, 5,500 tickets went in 15 minutes. So you take this fight, you win this fight, you take another fight, and you move to the Quiken Loans Arena, that holds 20,000,” says Cefalde. “Without a doubt, it could be a good move and I know his father, from day one, he always preached that he would love to see his son fight out here.”
Cefalde was the local promoter when another Youngstown idol, Ray ‘Boom Boom’ Mancini, defended his WBA lightweight belt against Ernesto Espana on July 24th, 1982 at Mollenkopf Stadium in nearby Warren.
?Ray was the thing everyone clung to in Youngstown because we really didn’t have a lot of other things going on. And his popularity was not only local but it was world-wide because of him being Italian – he’ll tell you this himself ? he could fight a little bit and being white. I think Ray was popular quicker because that’s when people could go out and watch Ray fight on CBS, which everybody could get,” said Cefalde.
Like Pavlik, Mancini found out just how strong his bond with his fans was after he lost his title to Livingstone Bramble in 1984.
?The people, they embraced me with open arms and told me how proud I made them,” he recalled. “They told me, ‘Hey, that was a bad night and you’ll be back stronger than ever. We know you’re going to get it back.’ So nobody jumped off that bandwagon. My fighting style, much like Kelly’s, is very emblematic of the city. You move forward, you take your shots. People understand that. So people can understand that you had a bad night – but it was just one night. That’s it.”
Both Mancini and Pavlik don’t just offer an entertainment option or diversion; what they also provide is hope, a symbol of better things to come in an economically depressed area, where good fortune and optimism are oftentimes doled out in small quantities.
Mancini says of the role he and Pavlik play, “In 1982, unemployment was 28-percent in our hometown, a fourth of the people were out of work and had nothing. And I was the one shining light they had. So I took that responsibility very, very seriously. And I think Kelly does that now. He’s the beacon of hope and I know he embraces that and respects it and appreciates it. It’s a lot for a young man to have that put on his shoulders, but y’know what? For me, the people of Youngstown carried me a lot farther than my body wanted to go at times.
?They truly carried me a lot farther than I wanted to go. And the same thing with Kelly, these people will lift him on their shoulders and carry him to victory.”
He says of his people, “They’re the best. They’re the best sports fans and best boxing fans in that part of the country. Youngstown, particularly. See, it’s a blue-collar town people, understand? Most people in that part of the country get knocked on their behind most of the time and keep getting up and getting up. So anyone who keeps moving forward, they respect and love them. That’s part of that mentality of that town. So the fact he got beat, hey, that’s just a fact of life and let?s move on. That’s life, let?s move on.”
Mancini’s sixth round stoppage of Espana would be the last time he performed in Ohio. So suffice it to say, this weekend will be the biggest, most anticipated boxing event since that point.
?Oh, I’m sure,” said Mike Pavlik, the father of the middleweight champion, who has lived his whole life in Youngstown. “Even from the people that ran the Chevy Center, they’ve had every major group in the country and they said they’ve never had this happen. They’ve never been swamped like that in 15 minutes.”
Expect the atmosphere to be lively.
?It?s going to be insane, it’s going to be crazy,” says the father. “Even downtown is going to be jam-packed, like a football game. They can’t get in, but they’re going to be down there and be part of the atmosphere.”
And one of those patrons will be Mancini.
?It is exciting. I’m a little bit jealous that I didn’t have the opportunity to defend my title in the city of Youngstown, even though Warren is the next town over,” he admits. “To me, it’s all home. But this is Youngstown, they have a facility now, the Chevy Center. It’s a wonderful thing for the city, it’s wonderful for Kelly and it’s going to be great for the people. It’s going to be great for the rest of the country and the world to see how much support this kid gets and how we back our people.”
MEANWHILE
As for ticket sales at Madison Square Garden in New York where Miguel Cotto faces Michael Jennings, Arum says they are, “Not bad; not like Youngstown, but not bad. We’ll have 10-12,000 people in the building. That’s good and it’ll be a pretty good date. We have a lot of $50 tickets left, the expensive seats are pretty much gone. So it’s OK.”
SATURDAY NIGHT FEVER
Some quick random thoughts on this past weekend?s ‘Boxing After Dark’ telecast….
– Alfredo Angulo is an exciting, hard-hitting fighter, but you get the sense that movement and quickness will trouble him. As long as he faces guys like Cosme Rivera and Andrey Tsurkan, he will always look good. He now has just 15 fights under his collar (Get it? Collar? Ahem, anyhoo…) so I don’t think there?s any need to rush this guy.
– I had Sergio Martinez out-pointing Kermit Cintron quite easily from the couch I was sitting on. But the thing that stands out is when Martinez knocked down Cintron from a clean punch in the seventh, that referee Frank Santore’s count actually got to ‘ten’. Now, I may be wrong (which happens often, admittedly) but once that number is uttered, isn’t the fight over at that time? I’ve seen plenty of fights waved off while a fighter was on his feet. Was Santore – who also gave a dubious penalty to Martinez in the 12th frame for hitting behind the head – talked into allowing the fight to continue by the complaining Cintron?
Martinez did the impossible – he got robbed more than once in a single fight.
– I thought the fight between Nate Campbell and Ali Funeka was an entertaining and grueling affair between two combatants who emptied their buckets. I thought Campbell may have edged it out with his two knockdowns and late rally, but I know a lot of you guys had the South African winning.
I don’t think there’s any doubt that Campbell tried to make weight. The reality is that he is a fighter whose market value is dependent on having these belts and being able to defend them. Now, moving up to 140, Campbell is once again just another tough guy who may have problems getting the marquee names to face him. While he may have been forced to move up in weight, his money goes down for the foreseeable future. But regardless, isn’t it a bit ironic that Campbell failed to make weight in the very next fight post-Joan Guzman? What do they say about glass houses?
I got an idea, a fight between Campbell and Guzman at 140(or 143, just to be sure) and call it, ‘The Weight is Over!!!’
– Certain folks will never say this (especially HBO) but that network has gotten off to a very good start in 2009 with bouts like Andre Berto-Luis Collazo and Campbell-Funeka that were both mandated by sanctioning organizations. Yeah, they’ve propped up plenty of undeserving stiffs in the past, but they also get it right more than some would like to admit.
– I’ve tried to give Lennox Lewis a shot. But he’s terrible.
Absolutely.
FINAL FLURRIES
The Top Rank pay-per-view on Saturday, which also features John Duddy and Anthony Peterson-Edner Cherry, is available on HD, and its suggested retail price is $44.95….So I guess the Terry Porter era in Phoenix has set, huh? That was quick….The rumor is that Floyd Mayweather turned down $7.5 million to face Shane Mosley. I guess he’s waiting for the winner of Pacquiao-Hatton…..RIP to my Montebello High School classmate, Melvin Green, Class of 1990….
