Pavlik had come up old school-style, plying his craft on obscure undercards and in swing bouts on Spanish language telecasts. Slowly, with his aggressive style and blue collar work ethic, “The Ghost” began to win fans and make a name for himself.
Exciting wins over tough fringe contenders like Bronco McKart, Fulgencio Zuniga, and Jose Luis Zertuche earned him entry into the top 10 and a shot against the beastly Edison Miranda in a WBC title eliminator broadcast on HBO.
In one of the most entertaining fights of 2007, Pavlik stopped the Colombian in the seventh round, paving the way for a bout with WBC/WBO world middleweight champ, Jermain Taylor.
True to form, Pavlik came at Taylor with everything he had, surviving a brutal second round knockdown to batter and eventually stop the defending champ in a memorable seven round TKO. A star had been born.
It didn’t take a marketing genius to realize that the 25-year-old kid with the small town charisma and the thrilling ring style would be an easy sell to a boxing public looking for the next big thing. Pavlik had the potential to be a virtual money machine and the biggest American boxing star since Oscar De la Hoya.
Sadly, that’s when Pavlik’s world started falling apart.
After a dull decision victory in a rematch with Taylor and an easy knockout of UK import, Gary Lockett, Pavlik was utterly embarrassed in a one-sided points loss to 43-year-old light heavyweight, Bernard Hopkins in an ill-advised catchweight contest. So bad was the schooling at the hands of “B-Hop” that many theorized the beating would completely demoralize the young fighter.
Shortly after the Hopkins loss, rumors about the physical and emotional well-being of the fighter started swirling around cyberspace. A bout with Paul Williams was put off on several occasions, with a staph infection of the left hand being cited as the official reason for the cancellations.
