Pavlik parents view fame as pain and a blessing

Pavlik’s parents suddenly found it more difficult
to live a normal life.

By JOE SCALZO

VINDICATOR SPORTS STAFF

YOUNGSTOWN — On Sept. 30, Mike Pavlik was driving home on the Pennsylvania Turnpike with his son Kelly when they neared the state line.

Suddenly, they saw a few dozen police cars and firetrucks, ready to escort the new middleweight champion back to his hometown.

“How do you prepare yourself for something like that?” asked Mike Pavlik.

It was only the beginning. Over the next month, his parents, who were adjusting to fame just as quickly as Kelly, started getting phone calls from places like Australia and England.

Fans. Reporters. Autograph seekers.

You name it.

“The first month, it was crazy,” said Pavlik’s mother, Debbie. “I was erasing the answering machine three or four times a day. The phone was driving me crazy.

“But you’d listen to the messages and everyone was so nice. They were like, ‘God bless you. God bless your family.’ ”

Mike and Debbie suddenly found it slightly more difficult to live a normal life. People came up to Debbie at the grocery store and asked, “Are you Kelly’s mother?”

Mike would sit down at a restaurant and notice eyes glancing his way.

“I’d be thinking, ‘Why are you looking at me like that?’ ” he said. “Then I’ll think, ‘Oh [bleep], they probably seen my pretty face in the paper.’ I think I’ll get a fake handlebar mustache and walk around with it.”

The attention bugged Mike a little at first. Then those same people started picking up his restaurant tab. Then he didn’t mind so much.

“That’s why I’m spending all my time down at the YMCA,” said Mike. “I have to get those meals off me.”

The Pavliks like to think of themselves as normal people. They’ve lived in the same house since Kelly was a kid. Mike used to work in the steel mills and now sells insurance.

Debbie’s main hobby is spending time with her grandkids (including Kelly’s daughter, Sydney), watching movies, eating popcorn, engaging in vicious pillow fights.

They celebrated Kelly’s win by buying a new TV.

Although Kelly and his trainer, Jack Loew, got new cars, the Pavliks are sticking with Mike’s 1999 Mitsubishi.

“As long as it’s running, it’s fine,” said Debbie. “We can get another 10 years on that.

“No, I’m exaggerating. Maybe eight.”

After that first month, things started to quiet down.

“I only had to erase the answering machine twice a day,” Debbie said.

They still get recognized, but not as often. Debbie doesn’t plan to go to Saturday’s bout — her mother recently had a stroke and she’s been in the hospital — but her husband left Sunday.

Debbie doesn’t watch the fights live. She stayed in her Atlantic City hotel room in September and plans to be in her bedroom this Saturday night. Her brother will be in the living room, under strict orders not to give round-by-round updates.

Mike expects Las Vegas to be hectic — he’s worried Kelly won’t have time to loosen up or run because of the fan interest — but he knows fame isn’t just a pain. It’s also a blessing.

“Everyone that stops us is a well-wisher,” he said. “What do you say about that?

“That’s just genuine affection for him. You can’t fault anybody.”

And it’s only beginning to sink in that their baby boy has become an inspiration to so many people.

“It’s something,” Debbie said. “There’s only a handful of [champions] out of hundreds of thousands who want to be pro fighters.

“To make it to that level, it’s just astonishing.”

scalzo@vindy.com