Kelly Pavlik: News and notes

Mr. Youngstown: Although Kelly Pavlik never set out to be Youngstown’s hero, he’s aware of the mantle he carries. “It’s good. It’s awesome, but a lot of pressure too,” he said. “As with anywhere, Youngstown, when you’re on top you’re on top, but when you let them down you’re the worst person in Youngstown. It’s funny how that works. But it’s a lot of pressure not letting anybody down. You don’t want to become the bad guy in the city for failing at something. But at the same time it’s pretty neat to be that guy, to be in that situation.” Pavlik said fans often come up to him and say he made the city proud, which may be due to the city’s championship drought. Youngstown had a host of boxing champions in the 1980s, including Ray “Boom Boom” Mancini, Harry Arroyo, Jeff Lampkin and Greg Richardson. “In the 80s, Youngstown was kind of spoiled. Then all of a sudden there was nothing. I think that [his win over Jermain Taylor] got everybody energized and you know, if somebody goes out and does it, then, you know, we all could. That’s pretty neat to sit there and know that you’ve touched somebody like that or done something.” Top Rank president Bob Arum sympathizes with rust-belt cities and has been encouraged by his fighter’s impact. “I mean, the town [Youngstown] has had some really hard times,” he said. “The factories are closed, the jobs have been outsourced and are going overseas, thanks to brilliant administrations in this country. But the guys, the people persevere. And Kelly’s victory is like a ray of light, a feeling of hope that they have and it’s a wonderful thing to see.”

Champion’s advantage? Pavlik was trailing on all three judges’ cards when he knocked out Taylor in the seventh round in September, something he doesn’t understand. Pavlik concedes the second and fifth rounds, but felt he won the other four. (HBO’s judge, Harold Lederman, sided with Pavlik’s assessment.) “I didn’t see where he had any other rounds,” said Pavlik. “And, you know, that’s the only bad part with Taylor is he’s always been favored with the judges, so what we’re going to have to do is just pick up the pace even more and make sure that we land cleaner, sharper punches and that we outwork him. And that’s what we’ve prepared to do.” Pavlik’s trainer, Jack Loew, agreed. “We out-jabbed him [and] if you go by their punch stats, the power shots, we outpunched him. So, I mean, if everything’s saying that we out-hit him here, we out-hit him there, how the hell were we even behind? But, you know, we’ve got to stay busy and we’ll get busier. We’re in better shape and we’re coming to fight. So if it means picking it up a notch, then that’s what we’ll do.”
Post-fight splurge: Pavlik — who shares a ranch house in Boardman with his fiancée, Samantha and their daughter — used his winnings check to splurge on oak paneling in his rec room, something that brought teasing from reporters. “You know, it’s just getting everything — making it homey. It’s a little ranch. I only have one kid and me and my fiancee, so there’s no need to do anything more than just fix it up and make it mine.”
Reminder: Pavlik also got teased about leaving his check in his hotel room after the Taylor fight. When asked if he was making arrangements to ensure he didn’t forget it this time, he laughed and said, “Yeah, I think somebody ought to talk to Bob [Arum, his promoter] and make sure we get one of them rooms with a safe. And put a big note on it not to forget to open it up before we leave.”

Joe Scalzo