Pavlik-Williams fight postponed

Rescheduling the bout, which went through seemingly endless obstacles to get made, may not be so easy.

By JOE SCALZO

Vindicator sports staff

YOUNGSTOWN — Kelly Pavlik’s injured left hand has delayed his opportunity to defend his titles.

Pavlik’s middleweight championship bout against Paul Williams scheduled for Oct. 3 was postponed due to the lingering effects of a staph infection on his left middle knuckle. The fight will be rescheduled for either late November or December. The original proposal was Nov. 21, but Williams' promoter has a conflict that day.

The fight will still be at Atlantic City’s Boardwalk Hall and will still be televised on HBO, according to a release by Top Rank.

Pavlik (35-1, 31 KOs) originally injured the hand in February while training for his bout against Marco Antonio Rubio. Complications from a staph infection prompted Top Rank to postpone — then eventually cancel — a planned summer bout with Sergio Mora.

Pavlik had surgery last month and has worn a brace on his hand during the early weeks of training camp. After running through Mill Creek Park on Monday morning, Pavlik’s trainer, Jack Loew, asked him to remove the bandage so he could see the hand’s condition.

“It turned my stomach,” Loew said. “It’s really bad. There’s a hole in it.”

Pavlik visited his doctor, Sandy P. Naples, who said the hand would not be ready for full training in two weeks, which is when he was scheduled to resume punching.

“I asked Naples if he could punch something in two weeks,” said Loew. “He said, ‘Absolutely not.’

“If he’s not 100 percent, he ain’t fighting. I don’t care if it’s the night before the fight.”

Williams and his promoter, Dan Goossen, were en route to New York City for a planned press conference about this fight today.

He was not aware of the postponement until asked by a reporter.

“Obviously we’re very surprised,” said Goossen, who was equally unaware of the rescheduled date.

“When I hear that date [Nov. 21], I’d be very interested in one thing: Who’s he [Pavlik] going to fight? We know nothing about it.”

Goossen said his company “have a lot of things to evaluate” before embarking on a course.

Loew said Pavlik will go to the hospital this morning to get an IV drip, which will be on him for two or three weeks. Naples told Loew he’s optimistic that the six-week extension will give the hand ample time to heal, although no one knows for sure since no one expected the injury to linger this long.

“If we can’t get this thing right in six weeks, then it’s never going to heal,” said Loew. “This is nothing to play around with. It’s a very serious thing.”

Some members of Pavlik’s camp had wanted the extra time, but Pavlik’s promoters were under pressure to secure the Oct. 3 date from HBO, which was guaranteeing a multi-million dollar payday to both fighters.

Pavlik did not respond to an interview request.

Williams (37-1, 27 KOs) is coming off a dominant victory over former junior middleweight champion Winky Wright in April.

scalzo@vindy.com