PAVLIK NOTEBOOK

PAVLIK NOTEBOOK

From Las Vegas

Ohioans out west: Several travelers out of Cleveland Hopkins Airport on Friday were among a party from American Legion Post 76 near Alliance. Steve Martin and his wife, Nadine, are seeing boxer Kelly Pavlik live for the first time. Martin, an Ellsworth Township trustee, said he initially resisted making the trip to Vegas, but acquiesced, “only if Pavlik was fighting.” Martin, a troubleshooter for Ohio Edison, said he was unable to attend Pavlik’s fight on Sept. 29. Nadine is an art teacher at Columbiana High School. Sitting across the cabin aisle from the Martins were Andy Downard of Paris (south of Alliance) and Sue and Ryan Oprandi of Beloit. “We’re all friends,” Downard said of the five individuals on board Friday’s flight, along with another 10 traveling separately. Downard, a field supervisor for North Coast Energy out of Austintown, was wearing a Team Pavlik “hoodie” he bought at the East Side Civics on South Avenue. Unlike the Martins and Oprandis, Andy was “flying solo.” Ryan Oprandi and his wife were holding a pair of $600 tickets that they purchased for almost half via e-Bay when the original holder, from California, was unable to use them. Downard and the Oprandis were part of a group that rented a vacation home on the beach for Pavlik’s September fight in Atlantic City. “That was the most intense sporting event I’ve been part of,” Downard said of the first Pavlik-Taylor battle. “When the fight was over, everybody stayed.” Ryan Oprandi was another witness to the atmosphere. “None of us could talk on our way home,” Ryan said of the group’s hoarse voices.

John Bassetti