Hopkins gets Pavlik’s attention

By Joe Scalzo

The 43-year-old fighter might be next to face The Ghost.

On June 7, about 30 minutes after Kelly Pavlik’s dismantling of Gary Lockett in Atlantic City, Top Rank chairman Bob Arum told reporters he had no interest in seeing Pavlik match up with one of the sport’s aging legends.

“Guys like Roy Jones, Bernard Hopkins ... enough,” he said. “Let them retire. Let the young guys fight.”

When reminded of that quote Thursday night, he chuckled.

“I agree, but Jones took away the guy [Joe Calzaghe] we should be fighting,” said Arum, who is finalizing plans for a Hopkins-Pavlik bout Oct. 18 at Atlantic City’s Boardwalk Hall. “Calzaghe said after he fights Jones, he’s not gonna retire and he’s looking for Kelly. So we felt, hey, if he’s going to fight Jones, we’ll fight Hopkins.

“If both guys [Calzaghe and Pavlik] win, we’ll fight next year and it’ll be a much bigger fight.”

In another sport, this would probably sound hypocritical. In boxing, it sounds about right.

Over the last few weeks, Arum has tried to line up more than a half-dozen opponents for Pavlik. None worked out, either because Arum felt they weren’t interested (Calzaghe), wanted too much money (Ronald “Winky” Wright, among others), or backed out at the last minute (Paul Williams).

“In this crazy business, you have to backtrack sometimes,” Arum said. “Kelly is moving ahead and the purses are going up.”

The fight, which is expected to be finalized over the next few days, will be a non-title bout at 170 pounds — 10 more than the middleweight limit — on HBO pay-per-view.

Although the 43-year-old Hopkins (48-5-1, 32 KOs) has lost three of his last five bouts, including two to Jermain Taylor, he’s still a big name in boxing. He holds the record for most middleweight title defenses (20) and his latest loss was a split decision to Calzaghe, considered by many to be the top pound-for-pound boxer in the world.

“Bernard Hopkins is Bernard Hopkins,” said Pavlik’s trainer, Jack Loew. “He’s a legend. He’s fought everybody. He’s got a great trainer in Freddie Roach.”

“So he lost to Calzaghe. So what? So did 45 other guys. Calzaghe is another great fighter.”

(Loew, by the way, is the same guy who over the last few months has called Hopkins a “43-year-old geezer” and Calzaghe “a slap-happy Welshman,” among other things. Like we said, in other sports, this passes as hypocrisy. In boxing, it doesn’t.)

Although Arum didn’t reveal any numbers, he said the fighters will split the revenue 50-50 and it will be the biggest purse of Pavlik’s career. Pavlik earned a career-high $2.5 million against Lockett.

“HBO couldn’t afford to satisfy the fighters’ rights fees,” Arum said, when asked why the fight will be on pay-per-view. “If the public wants to see it, and I think they will, they’ll support it on pay-per-view.”

Arum said he explored having the fight in Las Vegas, which Hopkins rejected.

“Hopkins didn’t want to fight in Las Vegas, for whatever crazy reason,” Arum said. “We’re very happy it’s in Atlantic City. He’s [Hopkins] from Philadelphia, so his 200 fans will be able to drive down and watch the fight.”

The fight will be much bigger than a Pavlik-Williams bout. Arum was close to finalizing that bout last week before talks hit a snag.

What happened?

“I have no [bleeping] idea,” Arum said. “We finally offered them every penny they wanted. We ultimately agreed to pay them $1.5 million, which is a ludicrously large amount, and they wouldn’t pull the trigger on the fight.

“I think it was just a sham. They were hoping we’d get frustrated and back down and when we didn’t, it just demonstrated they didn’t want the fight.”

Pavlik is in Hawaii this weekend — he married his fianc e Samantha Kocanjer in a private ceremony Friday — and is expected to attend next weekend’s welterweight bout between Miguel Cotto and Antonio Margarito in Las Vegas.

The Oct. 18 date gives Loew plenty of time to formulate a training plan and get the right sparring partners for Pavlik, who has twice fought at 169 pounds. February’s rematch with Taylor was at 166 pounds, with Pavlik tipping the scales at 164.

“I don’t like the weight,” Loew said. “I’d love to defend the title and force Hopkins to make 160 pounds. But the weight is not the issue. Kelly will make this weight standing on his head. We’ve got to make sure we do the right thing at that weight.”

Loew is confident he will.

“We worked really hard to be in a position to fight guys like Bernard Hopkins and Joe Calzaghe,” Loew said. “If it has to be at 170, hey, let’s fight.”

scalzo@vindy.com