Pavlik does us all proud

In the color pieces that were put together for Kelly Pavlik’s first televised fight in September against Jermain Taylor, old steel mills were an almost constant backdrop. The story line was that Pavlik was a working-class fighter from a working- class town.

It wasn’t a perfect metaphor — at 25, Pavlik wasn’t born until after the district’s steel industry was past the point of serious decline. But it had its charm and it worked for TV.

Pavlik won that first fight in dramatic fashion, surviving a near disaster in the second round, taking a knockdown and absorbing more than 30 unanswered punches. That victory was as much a testament to Pavlik’s incredible stamina and unbelievable ability to take a punch than to any Mahoning Valley heritage.

A good match

Saturday night’s fight in Las Vegas fits the working class hero almost to a T.

Taylor had the bigger upper body and was throwing sharper punches, maybe even right up till the end. But Kelly Pavlik was the workman, intent on doing his job. He was like a catcher in a bar mill, knowing that if he took his eyes off his work or dropped the bar rather than feed it into the next stand, disaster awaited.

Pavlik did what he had to do to win a unanimous victory from the three judges, a result that appeared lopsided to real-time viewers.

But the statistics tell the tale.

Pavlik threw 845 punches and landed 267 times. Taylor threw 456 punches and landed 178. Taylor had a higher percentage of punches land, but at the end of 12 rounds he was by far the more battered fighter. Pavlik, true to his Mahoning Valley roots, got the job done.

The rest of us can only imagine what it feels like to be a Kelly Pavlik or Jermain Taylor, climbing into a ring before thousands of people eager to see one or the other or both battered and bruised over the next 48 minutes. It’s worth remembering that virtually any of those 445 landed punches would likely floor 99 percent of the people reading this — and it is 100 percent sure that any of those punches would floor the person writing this.

Reaping rewards

Pavlik has now pocketed his largest paycheck, about $2.5 million before taxes. And his next fights are likely to make him a multimillionaire. Anybody who thinks he hasn’t earned that money has never taken a punch.

And he has also earned respect as one of a string of ring champions from this area who have fought with style and grit and represented their families, friends and neighbors with class.

Pavlik and his trainer, Jack Loew, and manager, Cameron Dunkin, have had a very good year, one in which they have been honored several times over by the boxing community. They’ve earned each accolade and they’ve earned the thanks of the Mahoning Valley for representing us well in a tough game. Congratulations.