You never, well almost never, say never in boxing. But it is fair to say now that Kelly Pavlik may have a “Ghost” of a chance of climbing back to the superstar level.
By suddenly pulling out this week of a Saturday night tuneup bout against Darryl Cunningham in Pavlik’s usually supportive hometown of Youngstown, Ohio, Saturday and leaving telecaster Showtime and promoter Top Rank in the lurch, Pavlik has done more damage to his already checkered career than decision losses to Bernard Hopkins and Sergio Martinez ever did.
This is an “I just don’t want to fight” excuse and apparently there are no injuries being claimed by the popular Ohio fighter and former middleweight champion.
The pullout has likely also cost Pavlik a fight against world super middleweight champion Lucien Bute, a bout in Quebec City for which the fighter was looking at at a guaranteed purse of $1.35 million.
Pavlik’s battle against drugs and alcohol is no secret including a rehab stay at the famed Betty Ford clinic.
Pavlik, age 29, owns a sterling 37-2, 32 KOs pro record and last fought on the Shane Mosley-Manny Pacquiao card in Las Vegas on May 11, struggling to post a majority decison over trialhorse Alfonso Lopez.
One source told me Tuesday that “about 1,000” tickets had been sold for the card in financially struggling Youngstown. In one of the more frostily written boxing press releases written lately, Bob Arum’s company announced Tuesday afternoon:
YOUNGSTOWN (August 2, 2011) ? Former World Middleweight Champion and current World Boxing Council (WBC) No. 1-rated super middleweight contender KELLY ?The Ghost? PAVLIK?s professional boxing comeback took a wrong turn inasmuch as Pavlik withdrew from his upcoming 10-round bout against Darryl Cunningham today. The Pavlik-Cunningham bout was scheduled to take place on Saturday at the Covelli Centre in Youngstown, OH, and was to be televised live on SHOWTIME? as the main event of a special edition of ShoBox: The New Generation. Both the broadcast and the live event have been canceled. Ticketholders can get a refund by returning their tickets to the place of purchase.
