Fans fill mall for time with champ Kelly Pavlik

NILES — If there’s any waning interest in middleweight champion Kelly Pavlik, one certainly couldn’t tell Saturday by the large crowed gathered at Eastwood Mall looking for some one-on-one time with the boxer.

Pavlik signed photos, boxing gloves and virtually anything fans carried to the mall for him to sign. The line of fans stretched hundreds of feet from the WFMJ-TV 21 studio, ending at the Sears Department Store at the end of the mall corridor.

WFMJ partnered with Home Savings and Loan to sponsor the event. Photos of the boxer were provided, but fans were encouraged to make donations. All donations went to the Potential Development Program, a Youngstown-area program for autistic children through grade 8, and for preschool students with development delays.

Pavlik arrived at 10 a.m. but his fans started lining up long before that. Madonna Chism-Pinkard, WFMJ community relations director, said about 200 people were waiting outside the studio by 7:30 a.m.

“This has been a bigger success than anticipated and all of it is for Potential Development. That is wonderful,” she said.

For more, check out Sunday’s Vindicator and Vindy.com