Pavlik, Hopkins both have a goal

By Joe Scalzo

Despite their successes, both fighters still have those who doubt them.

ATLANTIC CITY, N.J. — On Oct. 11, 1988 in Atlantic City, a 23-year-old ex-con named Bernard Hopkins lost a four-round majority decision against fellow light heavyweight Clinton Mitchell in his professional boxing debut.

Kelly Pavlik was 6. He may or may not have lost a fight to one of his two older brothers that day. Details are sketchy.

Hopkins turned to boxing in his early 20s as a way to escape his criminal past. Pavlik turned to boxing at age 9 so his dad could save money on karate lessons.

By age 13, Hopkins had been stabbed three times. By age 13, Pavlik had emerged as a promising amateur boxer.

At 18, Hopkins was sentenced to 18 years in prison for nine felonies. He served five years. At 18, Pavlik turned professional. By his 19th birthday he had knocked out eight fighters — all before the fourth round.

Hopkins didn’t earn his first knockout until April of 1990. It was his third fight. He was nearly 251‚Ñ2. When Pavlik was 251‚Ñ2, he knocked out Jermain Taylor in the seventh round to win the middleweight title.

Hopkins was 30 when he won the IBF middleweight title. He held it for 10 years, making a record 20 title defenses. Pavlik has held it for a year, making one title defense.

“It’s not luck,” said Hopkins. “You know, luck didn’t get me out of the penitentiary without getting killed, stabbed, raped, or whatever. Luck didn’t get me out of the ghetto and turn my life around. Hard work creates luck.”

Hopkins, 43, still works hard but he is on the downside of a Hall of Fame career. Pavlik, 26, is (he says) in the latter stages of his career, too. Pavlik only plans to fight a few more years. Both fighters are using this fight to disprove the doubters and pad their legacy.

Tonight at Boardwalk Hall they’ll get their chance.

“He is a legend; he can fight like nobody else,” Pavlik said of Hopkins. “I’m going in there to win this fight and win convincingly.

“That’s the one thing on my mind.”

Hopkins (48-5-1, 32 KOs) has lost three of his last five fights — two by split decision and one by unanimous decision. Two of those losses were against Taylor, who Pavlik beat twice, and the other came against Joe Calzaghe in April.

Hopkins is known as a cagey fighter, a wily veteran who is not above punching a fighter in the kidneys or the cup (by accident, of course), frustrating opponents into taking chances, then delivering a perfect counterpunch. He is a fitness fanatic, but he can no longer fight his best for 12 rounds.

Longtime writer Bert Sugar felt Hopkins won the second Taylor fight, but lost the first.

“He only fought six rounds in the first one,” Sugar said. “He fought seven in the second one.”

Although he has 32 knockouts, he’s no longer much of a power threat. (Although he did floor Calzaghe in the first round.) He knows he can’t stand toe-to-toe with Pavlik, so he won’t.

“He’s difficult to fight,” said Sugar. “He leads with a right jab in a right-handed stance and follows that by stepping head down. I almost say he should put a glove on his head.”

Pavlik is not a cagey fighter, at least compared to Hopkins. At 6-2 1‚Ñ2, he’s a big, rangy fighter who uses his long left jab to set up his devastating straight right hands. He’s got power in both hands and he likes to throw a lot of punches (100 per round, compared to about 40 for Hopkins). Both fighters have good chins, but Pavlik’s is easier to hit.

“The inside belongs to Hopkins,” said Sugar. “Kelly can hit on the inside, but that’s not his position. He’s needs a leverage.”

All the pre-fight questions have centered around whether Pavlik can be the first to knock out Hopkins, who has only been knocked down twice. Both came in a 1994 bout against Segundo Mercado in Quito, Ecuador. It ended in a draw.

“People say I’m going in there looking for a knockout,” said Pavlik. “I never look for a knockout. If it happens, great. But I do all the hard weeks of training expecting to go 12 rounds.”

Pavlik is a 5-1 favorite, something that doesn’t faze Hopkins.

“When you’re worried about going to school and failing a test before you take it, you’re gonna fail,” said Hopkins. “Don’t even take the test.

“I’m not a soothsayer and I don’t have a crystal ball. I can tell you that I’ll win. He will come away with a lesson that will take him way into his twilight career in boxing.”

No chance, Pavlik said.

“I think I can definitely go in there and win this fight convincingly,” he said. “You know, stoppage or just a unanimous decision, that’s going to be a huge, huge victory for me.

“I have a lot of — a ton of — confidence going into this fight.”

scalzo@vindy.com