Pavlik-Hopkins roundup \ News and notes

New referee: Benji Esteves will be the new referee for Saturday’s bout between Kelly Pavlik and Bernard Hopkins. He replaces the original referee, Earl Morton, who was replaced after Pavlik’s manager, Cameron Dunkin, said Morton’s friendship with Hopkins made him unfit to officiate the bout. “Benji’s OK,” said Dunkin, who said he had information that Morton and Hopkins were close friends. “He’s better than what I had.” Dunkin’s complaints this week prompted the New Jersey Control Board to give each camp a list of three alternatives: Esteves, Randy Neumann and Steve Smoger. Pavlik’s handlers made Smoger their first choice, but had no problem with Esteves. Smoger refereed Pavlik’s bouts against Jermain Taylor last September and the one against Edison Miranda in May of 2007. “Cameron wasn’t saying, ‘I don’t want this guy [Morton], I want my guy,’ ” said Top Rank chairman Bob Arum, who promotes Pavlik. “He was fine with anybody other than Morton.” Top Rank had vetted Morton 10 days ago and felt he was a good referee. It was Dunkin’s call, Arum said. Hopkins, who denied the friendship with Morton, was reportedly very unhappy with the decision and told members of his camp he was going to pull out of the fight. But those threats were never voiced to Arum. “He never said anything to me or the [boxing] commissioner,” said Arum. “That’s Hopkins being Hopkins. Nobody believed him. The liability [for withdrawing from the fight] would be enormous.” Earlier, one of the fight’s judges, John Stewart, had recused himself because he was friends with both Hopkins and Arum. Arum said changing referees the day before the fight is uncommon, but not unprecedented. “I’ve seen it happen,” he said.

Undercard: There are nine bouts on tonight’s card, with the final three on pay-per-view. The first pay-per-view bout pits Marco Antonio Rubio (42-4-1, 37 KOs) against Enrique Ornelas (28-4, 18 KOs) in a WBC middleweight eliminator. Rubio was mentioned as a possible opponent for Pavlik until his handlers settled on Hopkins. The second PPV bout pits Steven Luevano (35-1-1, 15 KOs) and Billy Dib (21-0, 11 KOs) for the WBO featherweight title. One other bout of note: Tyrone Watson (7-1, 3 KOs) will fight a six-round middleweight bout against Daniel Jacobs (10-0, 9 KOs). Watson was a sparring partner for Pavlik before last September’s bout against Jermain Taylor.

Tickets: Fewer than 1,000 tickets remained for tonight’s bout, most of them the cheap ($75) seats. It’s on pace to be the first Atlantic City fight to draw more than 11,000 since the Arturo Gatti-Floyd Mayweather light welterweight bout in June of 2005. That fight drew 12,675 — a record for a non-heavyweight bout here. Only 7,168 attended Pavlik’s June bout with Gary Lockett at Boardwalk Hall, which holds about 13,000 fans. The first Taylor-Pavlik bout drew 10,127 fans.

Delayed comeback: John Hutter, a trainer at the Southside Boxing Club, returned to Atlantic City for the first time since he made his professional debut March 20, 1984, against Anthony Shaw at the Tropicana. He lost a four-round unanimous decision. Hutter, who was 0-4 in his pro career, said the city has changed considerably since then. “It’s like I’ve never seen it,” he said. Prior to Friday’s weigh, Hutter lost to Pavlik in NCAA 2009, a college football video game. Hutter played Michigan, while Pavlik was Ole Miss. “He beat me like 43-15,” said Hutter. “But hey, it was my first time playing.”

Joe Scalzo