Pavlik to know his rival Monday
There are four possible
opponents for Kelly Pavlik’s title defense June 7.
By JOE SCALZO
VINDICATOR SPORTS STAFF
Kelly Pavlik should know his next opponent very soon.
The Youngstown middleweight, who owns the WBC and WBO belts, will likely make his first title defense June 7 in Atlantic City.
His handlers will spend the next few days sorting through four possible opponents: Giovanni Lorenzo, Marco Antonio Rubio, Gary Lockett and Randy Griffin. A decision will be made Monday, Top Rank chairman Bob Arum said.
“They’re all top contenders,” Arum said. “I think Pavlik is OK with all four guys. We’ll pick the best one and announce it then.”
Pavlik was originally supposed to fight Irishman John Duddy on that date in New York’s Madison Square Garden, but Duddy sustained several cuts on his face during his victory over Walid Smichet last weekend at MSG.
Duddy’s fan following in New York made the Garden date attractive, but now that he’s out of the picture — for now — Pavlik’s handlers are leaning toward Atlantic City’s Boardwalk Hall, which held Pavlik’s first bout with Jermain Taylor in September.
“To pay the price of the Garden doesn’t make sense now,” said Pavlik’s co-manager, Cameron Dunkin. “It’s better to go to Atlantic City.”
Several thousand Youngstown-area fans made the six-hour drive for the September bout and Atlantic City representatives have since been eager for another Pavlik bout.
“Everybody loves Atlantic City,” said Dunkin said. “It’s a lot easier than coming to Vegas.”
Unlike Pavlik’s rematch with Taylor, the June bout will not be on pay-per-view, Arum said. The fight would likely be televised by HBO or Showtime.
Lorenzo (26-0, 18 KOs), a native of the Dominican Republic and the WBC’s No. 2 contender, has fought six of his last 12 bouts in Atlantic City. His latest fight was a first-round knockout of journeyman Ulises Duarte in December.
Rubio (41-4-1, 36 KOs), of Mexico, knocked out Jose Luis Zertuche in the seventh round last month and has won seven straight bouts, including the last five by knockout. It was Zertuche’s first bout since getting knocked out by Pavlik in the eighth round in January of 2007.
Lockett (30-1, 21 KOs), the WBO’s No. 1 contender who hails from Wales, has won 14 straight bouts. His lone loss came against Yuri Tsarenko in 2002 at 154 pounds. He is scheduled to fight an opponent to be named on March 22 in Wales.
Griffin (24-1-3) is the No. 1 contender for the WBA title, which is held by Felix Sturm. The two fought to a draw in October in Germany.
Lorenzo and Rubio appear to be the favorites at this point, although Arum declined to name a front-runner.
“I don’t want to mislead you,” he said.
Regardless, it’s clear Arum wasn’t expecting to be in this position. Pavlik and his trainer, Jack Loew, flew to New York last weekend to watch the Duddy fight and no one expected the Irishman to put forward such a lackluster showing.
“Absolutely, we were counting on the Duddy fight,” said Arum, who also floated Felix Trinidad as a possibility in recent weeks, although those talks have cooled. “They [Duddy’s people] picked the opponent. How do you pick a tough guy like that? And it wasn’t even on TV.
“That’s just stupid. The kid was looking past it [the fight] and now he has cuts so bad he’ll have to get healed.”
Pavlik could still fight Duddy later in the year, with a November bout in the Garden a possibility, Arum said. In the meantime, Pavlik could fight in Ohio (Cleveland seems most likely) in either late August or early September.
Pavlik has said repeatedly he’d like to unify the middleweight belts before he moves up in weight, meaning a bout against Sturm or IBF champion Arthur Abraham is also possible. But because they’re not well-known, and because they’d come with a higher price tag, those fights may not happen in 2008.
“They have to get over here [in America] and fight somebody, so people will know who the [heck] they are,” said Arum. “Boxing guys know them and know they’re champions, but other than that, no one knows them from a hill of beans.”
scalzo@vindy.com