‘Governator’ snubs Pavlik at Arnold Sports Festival

The middleweight champ waited 21⁄2 hours for Arnold before leaving.

By JOE SCALZO

VINDICATOR SPORTS STAFF

After waiting more than 21⁄2 hours to receive a award from Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger at Saturday’s Arnold Sports Festival in Columbus, Kelly Pavlik decided to terminate the trophy presentation.

And he won’t be back.

Pavlik was supposed to receive the “Outside the Ring” award from the California governor, which goes to the individual who has “contributed immeasurably to the sport community, who has served as an inspiration to youth and who has served immeasurably to support and grow the great sport of boxing.”

The presentation was supposed to take place at 12:30 p.m., but kept being pushed back due to Schwarzenegger’s unavailability.

After arriving shortly after noon, Pavlik’s camp was told it wouldn’t take place until 1. An hour later, he was told the governor would be 20 more minutes. Then 10 more. Then 30 more. And so on.

“We started getting the feeling Kelly was only there to promote the event,” said a source close to Pavlik. “They just wanted to use us.”

The Pavlik camp was first told that the governor’s blood sugar was low, so he needed to go eat first. Then they were told he’d be there as soon as he was done smoking a cigar.

In the meantime, Pavlik was mobbed by fans wanting autographs and pictures. No one in his camp was offered a chair or a drink of water.

Just before 3 p.m., an event representative told Pavlik that Schwarzenegger was going to visit the cheerleaders at the event, then would be over for the presentation. At that point, Pavlik opted to leave. When the representative tried to give him the trophy, Pavlik declined.

Former heavyweight champion Buster Douglas was standing next to Pavlik for several hours also waiting for Schwarzenegger. When Pavlik decided to leave, Douglas said he was going to leave as well, the source said.

“We would have left a lot earlier if it hadn’t been for Kelly,” the source said. “He was very patient, but it got to be ridiculous.”

Pavlik was at the event and then left due to an emergency.

Pavlik arrived back in Youngstown before 8 p.m.

In other news, Top Rank Boxing is expected to announce Pavlik’s opponent for his first middleweight title defense on Monday.

The list has been narrowed to four contenders and will likely take place on June 7 in Atlantic City, the site of Pavlik’s title fight with Jermain Taylor last September.

The four contenders are Dominican Giovanni Lorenzo, the WBC’s No. 1 contender; Welshman Gary Lockett, the WBO’s top challenger; Mexican Marco Antonio Rubio and American Randy Griffin.

Pavlik was expected to fight John Duddy in New York City’s Madison Square Garden on that date but those plans were shelved after Duddy suffered cuts in an unimpressive victory over Walid Smichet last weekend.

scalzo@vindy.com