?It was my fault.?
Despite all the calls for former middleweight champion Kelly Pavlik to dump his team after his April loss to Sergio Martinez, to revamp everything that seemed to be working just fine for his first 34 pro fights, ?The Ghost? didn?t make anybody disappear when his record fell to 36-2. He turned the finger on the man in the mirror.
?We got to this point, won the world title, beat (Jermain) Taylor twice, defended it for three years, and there were other things to worry about in that fight, and it wasn?t so much the camp or anybody doing anything wrong,? said Pavlik. ?I came into camp heavy at 195 and it was hard to lose that weight. That?s what really made a big difference in that fight.?
When he talks about his 12 round decision loss, one punctuated by a strong attack in the middle rounds that was bookended by early and late surges by Martinez, there are no sour grapes, no what ifs, just a matter of fact acceptance that he lost and that it didn?t help that his training camp was focused more on losing weight than gaining the knowledge to beat the Argentinean. And once he got on site in Atlantic City, things didn?t get any better, as he made the exhausting last ditch effort to make the 160 pound limit.
?A couple days before the fight is when you?re really supposed to start slowing up, letting your body heal and your legs rest, and we?re doing eight miles a day with a sauna suit and I?m sitting in a sauna and starving myself. These are the things you can?t do going into a fight,? said Pavlik, who weighed in at 159.5 pounds.
The Youngstown, Ohio native?s struggles with the scale have been well documented over the last few years, and he could get away with being less than one hundred percent physically against the likes of Gary Lockett, Marco Antonio Rubio, and Miguel Angel Espino. Against a world-class competitor like Martinez, he couldn?t, and he found out the hard way.
?In the middle rounds I was frustrating Martinez and then I just hit a wall in the eighth round, and the cut didn?t help,? he said. ?But we got through it, and the main thing now is that I bounce back.?
That?s what fighters do, and Pavlik most certainly fits that job description. Always a no nonsense sort, the 28-year old isn?t one for over analyzing the past. If you win, you go back to the gym and get ready for a bigger fight. If you lose, you dust yourself off and get back at it until you win again. And winning again is the plan right now, as he works with longtime trainer Jack Lowe in California, Pennsylvania, just outside Pittsburgh, for his November 13th bout against Brian Vera. He says the change of scenery isn?t necessarily to get away from distractions at home, but to surround himself with, as he puts it, ?straight boxin
