Sunday, February 17, 2008
Friends in high places: Youngstown mayor Jay Williams and congressman Tim Ryan visited Southside Boxing Club last Saturday for Kelly Pavlik’s final sparring session before leaving for Los Angeles on Sunday. “It’s not until he’s three feet away and you’re watching him perform his craft do you realize how brutal this sport is,” said Williams. “You don’t appreciate his power.” Ryan made the trip to Las Vegas for the fight but Williams needed to stay in Youngstown to prepare for Barack Obama’s visit. After missing Pavlik’s bout in Atlantic City, Williams vowed to attend the next fight. When reminded of that promise, Williams laughed and said, “I vow, as sure as my name is Jay Williams, I’ll be at the next one. I’m not going to let Tim Ryan go to another fight without me.” Williams plans to watch the fight in his family room with a small gathering of friends. “He’s just an absolute source of pride,” Williams said of Pavlik. “Whenever he mentions Youngstown, I get a little chill down my spine.”
There’s always a Youngstown connection: Youngstown’s Tommy Bell, a former welterweight champion, often gets overlooked when people mention the city’s best boxers, something that bothers Dayton native Norman Horton Jr. “There was so much talk about Youngstown being on the map with Kelly [Pavlik], a lot of people don’t realize that great, great welterweight champion Tommy Bell put Youngstown on the map,” said Horton, a publicist for Jermain Taylor. Bell was Horton’s godfather and Bell’s brother, Shelton, trained the elder Horton during his career. “Rocky Marciano used to fight on my father’s undercards,” Horton said. Bell (53-29-3, 32 KOs) lost a unanimous decision to Sugar Ray Robinson for the vacant world welterweight title on Dec. 12, 1946 at Madison Square Garden, dropping Robinson in the seventh round before losing in 15 rounds. It was arguably the highlight of Bell’s career. “A lot of people think Tommy Bell won that fight,” said Horton.
Humble Pavlik: After beating Taylor, Pavlik decided to celebrate by buying a new watch. “He looked at a $1,000 watch and his heart almost dropped out,” said Pavlik’s trainer, Jack Loew. “He just couldn’t buy it. He bought a $400 watch at a lower counter.” Loew wasn’t surprised. “Kelly’s just humble,” he said. “Watch, he’ll probably make a fool out of me and buy a big diamond watch.” Or a diamond earring? “No, his father would take that right out,” Loew said.
Pay-per-view numbers: Lou DiBella, who was one of the lead promoters for Saturday’s bout, estimated the pay-per-view buys would be between 300,000 and 500,000. “We usually know by Wednesday,” he said. “God willing, it’ll be somewhere between that.” Incidentally, $49.95 multiplied by $300,000 works out to about $15 million.
Time to go: Former lightweight champion Ray “Boom Boom” Mancini prided himself on his ability to out-train his opponents. “I used to thrive when it was snow and blizzard,” said the South Side native. “A reporter once asked me, ‘Why do you do that?’ I said, ‘Because I know the other guy ain’t. If he is, he better be.’ When asked if he still runs out in the blizzards (which, apparently, are rare in Los Angeles), Mancini laughed and said, “I do run every morning. From the bedroom to the bathroom and back.”
Joe Scalzo. John Bassetti