It was about a month ago, on the eve of Manny Pacquiao?s ill-fated bout versus Tim Bradley, that ?The Ghost? of Youngstown, Ohio had a workmanlike outing against the game Scott Sigmon, stopping him in seven rounds at the Hard Rock Hotel in Las Vegas. At that point, it was expected that Kelly Pavlik wouldn?t fight again for at least another couple of months, so he headed back home to be with his wife and kids. Then on June 14th, it was revealed that Brandon Rios had suffered a training injury, bouncing him from this weekend?s HBO card at the Home Depot Center in Carson, California.
Pavlik then got the call from his manager, Cameron Dunkin, who relayed a message asking if he wanted to fight on July 7th. There wasn?t any hesitation.
?No, Cameron got a hold of my dad; they brought it up and at first, it wasn?t guaranteed yet. It wasn?t for sure and then we got a phone call that it was and it was, ?Yeah, I?m ready to go,?? said Pavlik, who had only been home a few days and would return to Oxnard to begin preparations for Will Rosinsky. ?We came out of the last fight healthy; there was no injuries, no soreness in the hands and we were still in good shape. So yeah, it was an opportunity that was hard to pass up.?
For Pavlik, it was a return to his days as a prospect, when he was fighting on short turnarounds regularly. ?I don?t think I ever fought together this close when I was coming up,? he said at the Fortune Gym, a few days ago during the media day for this card. ?So they?ve got me staying pretty busy but it?s good though. It?s something that needs to be done.?
In 2010, Pavlik had just one fight (losing his middleweight title to Sergio Martinez) and then last year, he had only his 10-round struggle versus Alfonso Lopez. Afterward, he infamously dropped out of his scheduled homecoming in Youngstown last August against Darryl Cunningham during the week of the fight. Getting Pavlik to fight twice in a year, much less a month apart, would?ve been downright impossible in the past.
His manager laughs in agreement, ?It?s great when they?re in the gym and they?re in shape and they?re training and their mind?s right, mental attitude and everything?s right. He couldn?t have possibly come back and fought- especially an HBO fight, 10 rounds with a short swing like this- this is great for him. Hopefully, he looks good; hopefully, he wins and looks great and then his career will start to soar again.? What Dunkin liked was that Pavlik reacted to the offer like a fighter who wants to fight (that wasn?t always the case recently). ?No hesitation at all. He was ready to go and it was just, ?Yes, let?s go,? and that?s what was so important to me is that there was no hesitation and he said yes immediately. That was the old Kelly Pavlik; that?s the way Kelly used to be and that?s the way Kelly is and that?s the way he is now. That?s a really good Kelly Pavlik; believe me.?
So would Pavlik have been willing to do this in 2011?
?If the situation were there, yeah. You put yourself in that mind state like I always have,? he said, while conceding, ?It?s just a lot easier now.?
The reality is that Pavlik and most every other boxer today simply don?t fight enough to really keep their razor?s edge. Fighters nowadays work harder at cutting weight than actually honing their skills in the gym. (Pavlik says, ?We didn?t have time to get out of shape.?). His trainer, Robert Garcia, is grateful for the chance to get right back into the ring. ?We took a week off and got this fight on less than three weeks notice but his training camp for the previous fight was so good, we couldn?t say no to this fight. It?s very important coming back on HBO, so he knows the importance of it. That?s why we came back and took it.? And according to Garcia, any chance of getting stale or overworked is mitigated by the short respite Pavlik did enjoy. ?There?s times when fighters are getting ready and the fight gets postponed a month. I?ll give him a week off too. They?re training hard, so it?s basically the same thing.?
Since migrating to the West Coast for his training camps and working with Garcia, Pavlik has notched two knockout victories. It?s part of a rebuilding process as he settles in as a super middleweight.
?I think everyone saw the difference in the first fight, even though it was less than two rounds,? Garcia said of Pavlik?s early stoppage of Aaron Jaco in late March. ?Seeing him work his left a little bit more. His balance was a little better and then we came back to fight our last fight and he got some rounds in and he did what we trained for, worked the body really good. His left hand was very, very effective. I think that?s one thing that I?ve seen.?
So has Pavlik finally turned it back around? Are the days of him pulling out of fights for mysterious reasons, ending up as the lead story in The Vindy for stuff that happens outside the ring, over?
?Well, I hope so,? said his promoter, Bob Arum, who has displayed the patience of Job the past few years as Pavlik battled a problem with alcohol. ?It seems that he has. I mean, he?s content; he?s in shape and I know he and Robert Garcia get along very, very well. So I?m very optimistic.?
The fight versus the rugged Rosinsky will serve as a barometer for where Pavlik stands in the division and what type of leap Top Rank and his management are willing to take next. Dunkin says, ?Depending on how he takes care of it, then we?ll make a decision on how far we want to step him up in the next one- and maybe step him up all the way. Who knows?? Arum says that HBO has mentioned the name of Mikkel Kessler among others. ?We want to get him into a big fight this fall,? said the veteran promoter.
Pavlik believes he?s right on the doorstep- but he isn?t looking too far ahead.
?I think so but this here is still a very important fight,? he said, well aware of what happened to Victor Ortiz a few weeks ago at the Staples Center. ?It?s a very important fight for me to look well in too. So we have to take it one fight at a time and I?m going to go in there and be impressive in this fight and see what opens up.?
It wasn?t all that long ago when Pavlik was one of the game?s rising stars. Not only was he the undisputed middleweight champion of the world, he was a legitimate draw earning millions per fight. Pavlik firmly believes he can get back to the Camelot that was 2008.
?I do. Being out here, the training camps have been going great and I?m excited; I?m rejuvenated. So I definitely think so and I?m learning. That?s the biggest thing.?
SUPER MIDDLEWEIGHT UPDATE
So how are negotiations coming along for a potential fight between Adonis Stevenson and Andre Dirrell, which would take place on August 11th at the Bell Centre in Montreal as the opener on Showtime, supporting Tavoris Cloud?s IBF light heavyweight title defense against Jean Pascal?
?We?re talking,? Yvon Michel of GYM, who promotes Stevenson, said to Maxboxing on Thursday afternoon. ?We spoke to Leonard Ellerbe yesterday; they seem to be interested in coming to Montreal if we both reach an agreement. We?re going to send them a return offer tomorrow morning. We?ll see what they?re going to do from that point.?
Originally, it looked like Sakio Bika was going to face Stevenson but, according to Michel, they preferred to face Stevenson in the States. When asked if he was optimistic a deal could be struck with Dirrell, Michel replied, ?I can?t say for now. We?ll really know after their reaction when they receive their written offer.?
The deadline to consummate this deal is July 13th.
As for Carl Froch and Lucian Bute, I understand InterBox held a press conference on Thursday where it was revealed that both Froch and Bute will have separate fights in the fall and then they will engage in their rematch on either March 16th or the 23rd of 2013 at the Bell Centre in Montreal.
BUZZKILL
If there was a particular fight that the hardcore boxing enthusiast was looking forward to this summer, it was the middleweight clash between Dmitry Pirog and Gennady Golovkin. But that fight, originally scheduled for August 25th at an Indian casino to be determined, has been postponed as Pirog suffered a slipped disc while pounding a tire with a sledgehammer during his training session in Russia. His promoter, Artie Pelullo, tells Maxboxing that Pirog is out 90 to 120 days but that this card- which still has Sergiy Dzinziruk facing Jonathan Gonzalez- will go on (as HBO wants to finally rid itself of their obligation to Dzinziruk, who not only received a license fee of $850,000 to get soundly beaten by Sergio Martinez last year but was promised a return bout by the network. Ross Greenburg is the gift that keeps on giving).
As long as Golovkin is still on this telecast versus a respectable foe, I?m OK with it. Golovkin is a guy who should be exposed to the American public.
