pavlik roundup | News and notes

Fan falloff: Saturday’s bout between Kelly Pavlik and Gary Lockett drew 7,168 people to Boardwalk Hall, significantly fewer than attended the first Jermain Taylor fight in September (10,127). Most of the fans were from the Youngstown area, prompting questions of whether Pavlik’s appeal hasn’t spread nationally. “Don’t be blinded by the number and relate it to boxing,” said Top Rank chairman Bob Arum, who promoted both fights. “There’s a crisis in this country and it’s happening everywhere. People can’t afford the gas. A guy getting in his car in Youngstown and driving here and back, that’s $350 at least. It’s not only this fight, it’s all the fights.” Still, Arum said, he was satisfied with the attendance and said the drop-off was in the cheap seats, not the expensive ones. “Significantly ... the higher-priced tickets sold,” he said. “Because of that, our gate was almost as large as the Taylor-Pavlik fight.” The visual evidence supported Arum’s claims. The biggest gaps at Boardwalk Hall were in the corners of the upper decks, while the lower level seats were mostly filled. Afterward, several hundred Pavlik fans gathered inside Caesars for the after-party. Pavlik and his camp arrived around 1:10 a.m.

Staying busy: Arum wants Pavlik to fight at least four times a year. “In the 80s, [Marvin] Hagler and those guys fought four or five times a year. There’s no reason why Kelly shouldn’t do that. He wants to. He doesn’t want to take off and sit out on the beach or spend all his time playing golf. He stays at home and trains at home. For Kelly to fight four times a year is appropriate.”

Home sweet home: Although Pavlik is interested in fighting Joe Calzaghe, he’s not so keen on fighting overseas. “You go over there, you’ve really got to put the guy on a stretcher to get the decision,” he said.

Heavyweight hopeful: Pavlik joked that a fight against Calzaghe should take place at heavyweight. When asked if he’d eventually like to move up that high, he said, “Maybe when I’ve been off for four years and I’m sitting on the couch and I weigh 300 pounds, I’ll say, ‘You know, I’m gonna go back and fight.’ You never know these days.”

Old Roy: Arum has no interest in a Pavlik fight with Roy Jones Jr. “I like Roy,” he said. “Roy was a great fighter. Guys like Roy Jones, Bernard Hopkins ... enough. Let them retire. Let the young guys fight.”

Finally: Pavlik wore trunks featuring an American flag with the insignias of the five branches of the military. “It wasn’t so much because we were fighting a kid that wasn’t from the United States,” said Pavlik, referring to Lockett’s Welsh ancestry. “There’s a war in Iraq still going on and those guys are out there on the line. I thought maybe it was time to show them we know they’re still out there and we appreciate what they’re doing.”

Joe Scalzo