Champ is favorite of celebs and fans alike

The key for Kelly Pavlik is balancing
opportunity with privacy.

By JOE SCALZO

VINDICATOR SPORTS STAFF

John D’Altorio Sr. was eating lunch at a local restaurant with Kelly Pavlik recently when a fan spotted the champ and ran over to meet him.

“She just reached over me, just to touch him, and put her sleeve in my food,” said D’Altorio, Pavlik’s personal publicist. “She was like, ‘Oh, Kelly, I love you.’ She didn’t mean any harm, but her arm was in my food.”

Did he keep eating?

“No, after that I didn’t touch it,” said D’Altorio.

Another time, Pavlik was speaking at a benefit and, well, nature called. A fan spotted him and ran after him into the bathroom with a Sharpie and a program.

“I stopped him and he said, ‘Well, I’m afraid he’ll leave,’ ” said D’Altorio. “I told him I’d make sure he gets an autograph.

“You hear about celebrities getting mobbed in Hollywood and you understand how it happens. Everyone loves the kid.”

Over the past year, Pavlik has gone from an anonymous undercard fighter to a boxing sensation. Fame has its benefits (Pavlik has been a guest of the Ohio State football team, the Browns and the Indians) and its drawbacks (getting followed into the bathroom, for instance).

As his fame escalates, it’s up to people like D’Altorio to sort through hundreds of requests from reporters, charities and businesses who want a few minutes — or a few signed boxing gloves — from the middleweight champ.

“It’s been great,” said D’Altorio. “To be honest, he’s loved around the world. People love his humbleness, the way he carries himself in interviews after the fight, the way he lets his hands do his talking for him.

“We get a lot of e-mails from fans who aren’t even requesting anything.”

D’Altorio also gets a lot of requests from organizations such as Make-A-Wish, the United Way, the American Cancer Society, Walter Reed Hospital in Washington D.C. and myriad local charities looking for Pavlik to lend a few minutes to help.

“Obviously we can’t do it all,” he said. “But if we can’t be there, we try to donate merchandise or something like that.”

Pavlik’s following extends to celebrities. Members of the metal band Korn sent Pavlik an autographed guitar. (Pavlik enters the ring to one of their songs). Members of rock band Foo Fighters are also fans and plan to attend the Feb. 16 rematch against Jermain Taylor. Country singer Toby Keith, Browns quarterback Brady Quinn (who shared a loge with Pavlik at an Indians game this summer) and Hall of Famer Jim Brown are all fans, too.

“Jim Brown told him he was very impressed with the fight, but he was more impressed with the way he supported his city,” said D’Altorio.

Before an Indians playoff game with Boston last fall, Pavlik was ushered into the locker room. Outfielder Kenny Lofton was on the couch when he saw Pavlik, turned to pitcher C.C. Sabathia and said, “Is that the champ, the ‘Ghost’?”

When Sabathia said yes, Lofton jumped up and started shadow boxing.

“Kelly was like, ‘It’s so cool to meet these guys,’ ” said D’Altorio. “I was like, ‘No, the Indians are meeting you.”

In the weeks leading up this month’s fight, D’Altorio has fielded calls from nationwide media outlets, including ESPN, Jim Rome, Sports Illustrated and the Los Angeles Times, all seeking a few minutes (or, often, much more) with Pavlik.

“A lot of the stuff we have to turn down,” he said. “If not, he wouldn’t do any training. He’d just be doing media every day.”

There are monetary benefits to fame, of course. Pavlik has local endorsements with Greenwood Chevrolet, Harley Davidson, Home Savings (you can see his billboards on I-680 and Rt. 224), Pepsi (where he gives motivational speeches), Vista Windows and Mountaineer Race Track, among others.

Phantom Fireworks wants to put their name on his boxing trunks. A local company is making a Pavlik action figure. A national video game company will feature Pavlik in an upcoming boxing game.

Pavlik’s biggest nationwide endorsement is with the T-shirt company “Affliction,” which will soon come out with its own Pavlik line.

“We had a couple nationwide proposals, but when we weighed out the options, Affliction offered more money than companies like Reebok and Under Armor,” said his attorney, Lou Schiavoni, who handles Pavlik’s endorsements.

The key is balancing opportunity with privacy.

“The thing that’s most important to him is his baby,” said D’Altorio, referring to Pavlik’s daughter, Sydney. “Spending time with his family, his parents and his brothers, that’s more important than anything on the business side.”

But if he keeps winning?

“He’ll be his own sports franchise,” said D’Altorio. “He’ll be just like LeBron [James]. That’s how big it’s gonna get.”

scalzo@vindy.com