Arum has high praise for Kelly

The Top Rank chairman says he has the tools to be the best ever.

By JOE SCALZO

VINDICATOR SPORTS STAFF

Top Rank chairman Bob Arum isn’t known for understatement, but he managed to raise a few eyebrows with his prediction for Youngstown’s Kelly Pavlik.

“I really believe that if Kelly continues on the path he’s on, he will be recognized as the greatest middleweight ever,” Arum told reporters during a nationwide teleconference Wednesday. “I really believe Kelly has the opportunity and the tools to be the best of any of them.”

Arum, 77, limited that declaration to his time as a promoter, mentioning Pavlik with former champions Carlos Monzon, Marvin Hagler and Tommy Hearns.

“He’s a combination of all three guys,” he said in an earlier interview with The Vindicator. “He’s got the best qualities of all three.

“First, he’s tall like Monzon and therefore he can put distance between himself and his opponent. Second, he’s like Tommy Hearns because he’s the hardest-punching middleweight I’ve seen since Hearns. And he consistently punches harder than Hearns. Hearns was good early on but he wasn’t as ferocious in the later rounds. Kelly seems to maintain his punching ability. Third, of course, he’s like Hagler in his intensity, the way he stalks his opponent.”

When asked about those comments, Pavlik seemed a little overwhelmed.

“It’s a great, great compliment,” he said. “Hopefully in time we can go in there … and be listed with those guys.

“It’s great just to be mentioned with them right now.”

Pavlik (32-0, 29 KOs), who will fight a rematch with Jermain Taylor Feb. 16, is too young to be preoccupied with his place in history just yet. But to Arum — who favors middleweights above all other weight classes — the talent and the potential for Pavlik are there.

“That’s saying a lot,” Arum said. “At least for me it’s saying a lot.”

First things first, of course. Pavlik just won the championship in September and won’t make his first title defense until June, when he fights John Duddy at Madison Square Garden.

“We know it’s there,” said Pavlik. “I’ll talk about that on the 18th of February.”

Taylor (27-1-1, 17 KOs) presents plenty of challenges until then.

“Here’s a guy [Taylor] who beat [Bernard] Hopkins twice and Hopkins was the man at middleweight,” said Pavlik. “He beat the fast and elusive Cory Spinks. He beat up [Kassim] Ouma. He had a draw with Winky Wright.

“These are top pound-for-pound fighters. And when he lost, I think he was in shock and awe. That’s why he wanted to come back so quick [for the rematch]. He’s not used to losing.”

Next week’s bout is scheduled for 12 rounds, but it’s unlikely to go that far. Pavlik hasn’t fought to a decision since November of 2004, when he scored a unanimous decision against Ross Thompson after eight rounds. (That bout, incidentally, was at the MGM Grand in Las Vegas, site of Pavlik-Taylor II.)

Since then, Pavlik has knocked out nine straight opponents. The longest bout went nine rounds, which came against Fulgencio Zuniga in October 2005.

Still, Pavlik is training to go the distance, if necessary.

“We always prepare to go 12 rounds,” he said. “I never train for the knockout; that’s why the training camp is so hard.”

Added trainer Jack Loew, “We’ll be extremely prepared for this one. We’re not taking Taylor lightly.

“We want to keep that [zero losses] on our record.”

scalzo@vindy.com