Five years ago, Kelly Pavlik was building toward a world title shot, which he won in spectacular fashion against Jermain Taylor in 2007. Defeats to Bernard Hopkins and Sergio Martinez have derailed him since then, but no more so than a bout with a MRSA infection and a public battle with alcoholism, which resulted in a spell in rehab. The former middleweight champion begins a comeback on Saturday, at super middlewight, against unbeaten Texan Alfonso Lopez.
"Everybody knows about Kelly Pavlik and his story," Arum said. "Everybody is concerned about Kelly Pavlik. Everybody is pleased to welcome Kelly Pavlik back to boxing."
Then Pavlik took his turn at the podium, the final fighter to speak before the media this week. He touched on the obvious, but understandably chose to focus on the future.
"The story's already been done, everything's been told," he said. But what hasn't much been written about, Pavlik noted, was the fight itself. "It's a great opportunity and a great fight to come back to. With all the experiences I've had, one thing I've learned is not to look past anybody. It's probably the best I've felt in my whole entire career, and I'm looking forward to putting on a show on Saturday and showing we're back."
The fighters posed for photographs, then broke off for interviews with individual reporters. The last of the public words have been spoken. Soon it will be time for everybody to fight.
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I think Pavlik could be in big trouble in this fight.
I am looking at this now.
