Arum: Pavlik to make ring return on April 14 in Las Vegas

Youngstown's Kelly Pavlik will likely make his return to the ring on April 14 in Las Vegas, reportedly to fight Scott Sigmon of Lynchburg, Va.

WSET, an ABC TV affiliate in Virginia, is reporting Sigmon's name. Top Rank chairman Bob Arum confirmed the date and the fight but did not confirm the opponent. A Top Rank spokesman stressed that nothing has been signed, so nothing is official.

It will be a 10-round, 166-pound fight at Mandalay Bay. It would be on the undercard of the Brandon Rios-Yuriorkis Gamboa lightweight bout.

Sigmon (21-3, 12 KOs), who recently won the WBC USNBC super middleweight belt, would be more of a tune-up bout for Pavlik (37-2, 32 KOs), who has not fought since May 7. Pavlik has been training in Oxnard, Calif., for the past few weeks under new trainer Robert Garcia.

The 166-pound weight is two below the super middleweight limit. Arum said the plan is for Pavlik to fight two tune-up bouts before a championship fight, possibly at 160 pounds against WBC middleweight champion Julio Cesar Chavez Jr.

"There's a lot of rust," Arum said. "We want to see how he handles the weight. Garcia said there's no problem getting him back down to 160 so if it looks like he's back [after the two fights], then we'll make a pay-per-view fight against Chavez."

For more details, read Saturday's Vindicator.