In the spotlight

By Joe Scalzo

Pavlik, Lockett face the pressure from media hype

The Youngstown boxer has become used to the recent attention focused on him and his fights.

ATLANTIC CITY, N.J. — Kelly Pavlik first saw his name on a casino boxing poster about three years ago when he fought Dorian Beaupierre on an undercard bout in Choctaw, Miss.

“It was just my name on it,” he said. “You had to squint real small to see it.”

Pavlik Lockett, 06/05/2008

Gallery

June 5 press conference in Atlantic City with boxers Kelly Pavlik and Gary Lockett.

Kelly Pavlik- Atlantic city press conference

Video

Pavlik comments on his upcoming fight against Gary Lockett.

Gary Lockett

Video

Welsh boxer Gary " Rocket Man" Lockett talks about upcoming fight with Kelly Pavlik during a Thursday press conference in Atlantic City.

“We had some people from the hotel take it down for us, so we could bring it home,” added cornerman Michael Cox.

That story seems quaint now, considering Pavlik’s face adorns posters all over Atlantic City’s boardwalk and he’s on two giant billboards on the highway leading into the city.

“It’s neat,” he said. “When you see that, you know you’ve made it. But ... you know if you want to keep that up there, you’ve got to go out and perform.”

Pavlik (33-0, 29 KOs) has done that, particularly in his last three fights, and he’s learned to handle the hype and the attention that comes with major bouts.

It’s one of the big advantages he has over Saturday’s challenger, Gary Lockett, who has gone from fighting in obscurity for most of his career to dealing with a huge media spotlight over the last few months.

Making matters worse, he’s fighting his first bout in the United States.

“The first time, you don’t know what to expect,” Pavlik said during Thursday’s press roundtable, where he was surrounded by a throng of reporters. “It’s a whole new world. You have to get over it mentally and get back in that mindset once it [the interviews] is over.

“Some fighters have a tough time doing that.”

Pavlik first experienced it last May before his fight with Edison Miranda in Memphis. Although he had fought some rugged boxers leading up to the bout — Jose Luis Zertuche, Fulgencio Zuniga and Bronco McKart, for example — he hadn’t done it while dealing with the spotlight. The Miranda bout, which was fought on the undercard of a Jermain Taylor title fight, brought a different level of pressure.

“I remember being in the locker room [before the Miranda fight] and I was so [bleeping] nervous, and I’m never like that,” said Pavlik’s trainer, Jack Loew. “Kelly actually had to calm me down. He looks at me and says, ‘Relax, everything’s gonna be fine.’

“I said, ‘Here’s a guy going into battle with a beast and he’s telling me to calm down.’”

Lockett (30-1, 21 KOs) has only been to the U.S. twice before — his lone bout outside the United Kingdom was in Italy — and he’ll be fighting a bigger, more experienced fighter in front of what figures to be an extremely pro-Pavlik crowd.

But if he’s worried, it didn’t show Thursday.

“To be honest, I’ve always been quite a strong-minded person,” he said. “It doesn’t matter if I’m fighting in Timbuktu or the moon.

“You’ve got to look at it one of two ways. Perhaps it’s a factor, or perhaps all the pressure is on Kelly to perform. All the guys here expect me to get wiped out in two rounds.”

Lockett hasn’t been given much respect stateside or in the U.K. Most national boxing writers are skipping Saturday’s bout, and a quick look at the purse (Pavlik is making $2.5 million, Lockett $250,000) says a lot about each fighters’ stature.

“To be honest, I don’t take it personal,” Lockett said. “This is my first fight in the states and my career has been stop/start.

“It’s only natural for guys to write me off.”

Lockett said he knows of about 30 or 40 friends and family members coming from Wales — “They’re all coming in dribs and draps,” he said, using a British term that translates to “trickling in” — and there’s sure to be at least a few more fans in the stands. Conversely, Pavlik’s camp is expecting something close to the 5,000 that traveled from Ohio to watch the title fight against Jermain Taylor last September, taking over the weigh-in in the process.

“Just wait until you see this one,” Loew said of today’s weigh-in, which takes place at 5 p.m. at Circus Maximus at Caesar’s. “Everybody that came the last time is coming today and everybody who missed it last time is coming early just for that.”

Lockett, however, has relished playing the underdog.

“Every win creates its own pressure,” he said. “I put pressure on myself to perform, obviously, but the pressure is on Kelly to perform.”

Loew, however, isn’t buying it.

“You can just see it — it’s all getting to him,” Loew said. “Just wait until he goes to that weigh-in.

“It’s gonna be nuts.”

scalzo@vindy.com