Infection pummels Pavlik’s June bout

Officials hope the fight will be rescheduled in September.

STAFF REPORT

Kelly Pavlik’s scheduled defense of his WBC and WBO middlewight world championship belts has been postponed because of a staph infection on one of his hands.

The injury, first reported on ESPN.com late Friday, has caused the postponement of Pavlik’s scheduled title defense against Sergio Mora on June 27 in Atlantic City, N.J.

Phone messages were left with Pavlik and his trainer, Jack Loew.

A phone call to Pavlik’s manager, Cameron Dunkin in Las Vegas, was not returned.

Pavlik (35-1, 31 KOs) is coming off a dominant ninth-round knockout of Marco Antonio Rubio in his second title defense Feb. 21.

Mora (21-1-1, 5 KOs), who won the first season of “The Contender” reality series, hasn’t fought since September 2008, when he lost a unanimous decision and his junior middleweight title to Vernon Forrest.

The bout, which was set in March, was originally scheduled to be announced last week but was delayed to allow Pavlik time to see his doctor, according to the ESPN.com report.

Pavlik made that visit Friday and was told he shouldn’t fight, Top Rank president Todd duBoef told ESPN.com.

“He had an infection and it hasn’t healed yet,” duBoef said. “Cameron [Dunkin] called [Top Rank boss] Bob [Arum] and said Kelly wouldn’t be ready to fight and that was it.”

The bout was supposed to take place at Boardwalk Hall in Atlantic City, N.J., and headline a Top Rank pay-per-view show.

Although Pavlik, who had stitches in his hand, is out of the fight, the show will go on, duBoef said.

Top Rank’s plan is to move the card out of the cavernous Boardwalk Hall, where Pavlik has drawn big crowds, into the smaller 4,000-seat arena upstairs at Boardwalk Hall or move the show to the Theater at Madison Square Garden in New York.

“We’ll try to reschedule the Pavlik fight, maybe for September,” duBoef told ESPN.com.