Pavlik’s Dec. 5 bout postponed; hand still healing

YOUNGSTOWN— Kelly Pavlik’s Dec. 5 fight with Paul Williams has been postponed as the middleweight fighter struggles to rehabilitate from a staph infection in his left hand.

“The fight is not canceled,” said Jack Loew, Pavlik’s trainer, at a press conference Wednesday afternoon in Southside Boxing Club.

Loew said that boxing promoters have given him two options: move the fight to Dec. 19 or move up to fight at 168 pounds.

“We’re not going to move up to get a fight,” Loew said.

Pavlik was scheduled to defend his middleweight title against Williams in Atlantic City, but the staph infection that has affected the fighter for eight months has left him unable to make a fist. Pavlik had two surgeries on the hand this summer.

The staph infection is gone from Pavlik’s hand, and doctors have told Team Pavlik that the fighter could be able to make a fist at any moment, Loew said.

If the fight, which has already been postponed once, has to move later than Dec. 19, Loew said he is not confident that Williams would still fight Pavlik.

Pavlik was at the Cleveland Clinic on Wednesday with HBO cameras, Loew said, and did not attend the press conference. Loew said that Pavlik might have his own press conference on Friday.

Loew emphasized that he made the call to postpone the fight.

“It wasn’t Kelly’s decision. It was my decision,” he said.

Read more in Thursday’s Vindicator and Vindy.com