Pavlik not fighting till June, but slate is busy

He went to see his likely next opponent fight in New York City Saturday.

VINDICATOR STAFF REPORT

YOUNGSTOWN — Kelly Pavlik may not be fighting again until June, but that doesn’t mean he won’t be busy.

Pavlik flew to New York Saturday — his Friday flight was canceled due to bad weather — to attend the John Duddy-Walid Smichet middleweight bout at Madison Square Garden. Duddy is Pavlik’s likely opponent when he makes his first middleweight title defense June 7 at MSG.

Tuesday, Pavlik will attend the Democratic primary debate between Barack Obama and Hillary Clinton in Cleveland. Pavlik will be the guest of Congressman Tim Ryan, who attended Pavlik’s fight last weekend in Las Vegas.

Pavlik will attend an autograph session at Eastwood Mall from 10 a.m. to noon March 8. Eight days later, he’ll take part in a three-day golf outing featuring several former Heisman Trophy winners in Florida.

The Cleveland Cavaliers are planning a “Kelly Pavlik Night” at some point in March. Pavlik was originally supposed to attend a Cavs game in November, but postponed when Ohio State coach Jim Tressel invited him to attend the OSU-Michigan game as a guest of the team. The Cavs are the only team that has not yet had Pavlik as a guest. Pavlik threw out the first pitch at one of the Indians playoff games against Boston last fall and conducted the coin flip at one of the Browns regular season games.

After a busy post-fight schedule last fall, Pavlik’s handlers plans to limit his appearances this time.

“We’re planning for a lighter schedule because Kelly wants to spend more time with his family and his baby,” said Pavlik’s publicist, John D’Altorio. “Every fight it gets worse — in a good way. We’re very busy filling requests. We’re getting stuff from all over the country.”

In other news:

UPavlik will receive the “Outside the Ring” award Friday at the third-annual Arnold USA Boxing Invitational Championships in Columbus.

The award is presented to the individual who has “contributed immeasurably to the sport community, who has served as an inspiration to youth and who has served immeasurably to support and grow the great sport of boxing.” For details, visit www.arnoldsportsfestival.com.

UPavlik and Taylor will jointly receive the “Harry Markson Award” at the 83rd annual Boxing Writers Association of America dinner May 1 in Los Angeles. Pavlik’s bout with Taylor last September was the organization’s “Fight of the Year.”

Pavlik finished second to Floyd Mayweather Jr. for “Fighter of the Year.” Pavlik’s co-manager, Cameron Dunkin, will receive the “Al Buck Award” as “Manager of the Year.

UJohn “Lyrical Lizard” Guthrie of Gary, Ind., recorded a song about Pavlik for his MySpace page. You can listen to it at myspace.com/lizardofoz. (Warning: Guthrie uses some profanity.)

Pavlik often gets requests from recording artists to use their songs for his ring entrance, but he has no plans to change from Korn. “[Guthrie’s] was one of the best we’ve received,” D’Altorio said. “We get four or five CDs a month and Kelly listens to them all, but he always comes out to Korn.”