Pavlik waits for payday befitting a champ

By Joe Scalzo

NILES — Kelly Pavlik said he’s willing to wait his turn to fight Arthur Abraham, but he’s not willing to fight Felix Sturm for $1 million.

Pavlik, the WBC and WBO middleweight champion, had been slated to fight Sturm, the WBA champion, on Oct. 3. But talks hit a snag when HBO offered $2 million for the bout, a significantly lower amount than the two fighters had been seeking. By comparison, HBO paid $3.5 million for rematch between Chad Dawson and Antonio Tarver.

“If we’ve got to split that [$2 million], I wasn’t going to take a fight for that,” said Pavlik, who signed copies of his new book at Thursday’s Scrappers game. “He’s got the WBA world title. I’ve got two titles.

“Somebody better throw some more money out there.”

Sturm (32-2-1, 14 KOs), a German, has emerged as the leading candidate for Pavlik’s next bout due in no small part to Abraham’s involvement in Showtime’s upcoming super middleweight tournament. Pavlik said he was not asked to be involved but would have been interested.

“Yeah, but I’m going to take care of business at 160 [pounds] first,” he said. “In the future, I’d like to fight the winner.

“If he [Abraham, the IBF middleweight champion] does take part and he ends up winning it, I’ll fight him when I go up [in weight].”

Pavlik (35-1, 31 KOs) said he thinks Showtime’s investment in the super middleweights will drive up HBO’s offering price for a title bout with Sturm. HBO’s offer was due in part to Sturm’s low profile in the United States. Sturm has fought in America just once — a unanimous decision loss to Oscar De La Hoya in June of 2004 in Las Vegas — and all but four of his fights have been in Germany.

Sturm is willing to fight in America, but he’s going to want more than $1 million considering the risk involved in fighting a boxer like Pavlik on foreign soil. Sturm, who will fight Khoren Gevor on Saturday, can make a comfortable living making mandatory defenses in Germany.

Still, Pavlik said he’s hopeful the Sturm bout will get made for Oct. 3, although nothing is finalized and the site appears to be up in the air. A report surfaced on Top Rank’s Twitter page Thursday about a possible super middleweight bout between Pavlik and Carl Froch on Oct. 3, although it is just a rumor at this point.

Neither Pavlik’s co-manager, Cameron Dunkin, or his promoter, Top Rank chairman Bob Arum, returned calls.

Pavlik, who has not fought since a 10-round TKO of Marco Antonio Rubio at the Covelli Centre in February, has already begun roadwork with his trainer, Jack Loew, and plans to begin weightlifting next week. He said he’s been working out three days a week during the layoff — he’s done everything from running to lifting to pick-up basketball — and is eager to fight again.

“I can’t wait to get back in the ring,” he said.

As always, Pavlik will not begin heavy training until eight weeks before the bout. He said his training will again include stints at the downtown YMCA, Rocky’s in Boardman and the Ironman Warehouse on the East Side.

“You name a gym in the area and I’ll be there,” he said.

Pavlik weighed in on several other topics. Here are some highlights:

UOn the risks involved in the super middleweight tournament:

“All them guys are big time in their career right now. They’re taking a big chance of losing a lot.”

UOn the number of boxing writers on the Web writing him off and saying his career has already peaked:

“They wrote me off before and looked what happened. I’ve got two belts now.”

UOn his preferred site for a Sturm bout:

“A.C. [Atlantic City] or Youngstown or Cleveland. That’s not realistic, though. Sturm kind of got robbed in that [De La Hoya] fight and A.C. is kind of my second home. We’ll have to pick somewhere in the Midwest, I guess.”

UOn when he’d fight his next bout, if he fights Sturm in October:

“If everything goes well, three months after. That would give me a month off to relax and get back into it.”

scalzo@vindy.com