“I want to. Yeah, whatever, it’s up to Top Rank. Whatever they want to do, it’s up to them. You know, if they want to fight me again, if they’re still interested, which I hope they are because they’re great promoters, then fight me. I want to let them know that I am hungry and I do want to fight still and I do believe that I can be a world champion again. If they don’t have confidence in me, then, you know, do whatever they want to do…it’s just a lack of communication. That’s what it boils down to. I do want to fight though. I want to tell my fans, my loyal fans, the ones that are standing behind me, that Kelly Pavlik will be back no matter what happens. If they want to sit me, fight me, not fight me, Kelly Pavlik will be back eventually and will put on a show and will be better than ever, that’s a guarantee…if I was all about the money, I wouldn’t say I would retire tomorrow. It’s not about the money. It’s about respect. Again, I’m not knocking Top Rank, but I do think I’m worth more than $50,000,” stated former middleweight champion Kelly Pavlik as he set the record straight regardig his decision not to fight this weekend. You don’t want to miss what he had to say. Check it out!
BT: Kelly, obviously there’s been a lot buzz this week regarding your decision not to fight this weekend. What exactly happened?
KP: It’s all business. It ain’t Top Rank’s fault, it’s not Cameron Dunkin, it ain’t my trainer, it ain’t me; you know, I can be a man about it and say that whatever happened with these fights coming up was a lack of communication and I should have been a smarter person and took more control of my career and I didn’t do it, you know, so it ain’t nobody’s fault. Just lack of communication, that was it.
BT: So you were training for a fight that you hadn’t even signed a contract for?
KP: I never got a contract for this fight; never got a contract. I never got no contract for Bute; the Bute fight was never even done, you know, so I got nothing. I never got a contract for anything and it kind of seems like it was a cash out problem, but it’s not Top Rank’s fault though. It really ain’t. The negotiations went beyond and past my agent, Cameron Dunkin. He did not negotiate anything for me and everything was already kind of like said and done, and there was no guaranteed figure, and the next thing you know, I was getting lowballed. Now, like I said before, it’s not about the money. Kelly Pavlik don’t fight for money. I’ve fought anybody and everybody. I fought Miranda. I fought Taylor twice, but I didn’t have to. I jumped up two weight classes to light heavyweight and fought Bernard Hopkins. It’s not about the money, but there is a respect level and I can’t get stepped on all the time. You know, I gotta finally put my foot down and make a statement. I’ll ask your honest opinion. I mean, if somebody told you…now, imagine me, I’m taking a $225,000 paycut. If your employer deducts $25,000 from your salary for next year, are you going to sit there and be all happy and say that’s fine?
BT: Hell no! That’s what I didn’t understand because your purse for your last fight was like $250,000 or $275,000. How do you go from making $275,000 to making $50,000? That doesn’t make any sense.
KP: Your exactly right. The whole thing is, you know, it’s hard for me to say because I get ridiculed for anything that I say when I open my mouth, but don’t pay me what you were paying me and then turn back around and pay me what you want to pay me. You know? Don’t pay me $275,000 after a 13-month layoff and I win, then turn back around and offer me $50,000, you know? Don’t offer Mikkel Kessler, and I’m sorry, but if you think about it, my name is every bit as big as Kessler, if not bigger, and it is, but you’re going to offer him $3 million and tell me that there’s not even $1 million for the Bute fight in Canada? I’d fight Bute in the United States, in Atlantic City, I’d fight him for $1 million in a heartbeat, but you’re going to send me to Canada where I have to put the guy in a coma to win the fight and you’re only going to offer me $1 million? No! It’s just, you know, a lack of communication. Again, it’s not Top Rank’s fault, it ain’t Cameron, it ain’t my trainer, you know, it’s not really even my fault, but if there’s anybody to blame more than anybody else, maybe it is me. Like I said before, I should be more involved in my career and in the negotiations and I’ll be a man and I’ll stand up and say it’s more my fault than anybody else.
