Ringside Report Looks Back at Former Middleweight Champion Kelly Pavlik

By Donald “Braveheart” Stewart

Though born in Ohio, Kelly Pavlik, 40-2, 34 KOs, is a name we in the UK know extremely well, as he beat one of our own who retired right after and went into training. He was an exciting middleweight who was active in the early part of the first century, and won the WBC, WBO, Ring and lineal titles in 2007.

“The Ghost” was raised in the Slovak neighborhood of Ohio and attended the local Youngstown South Side Boxing Gym. As an amateur his career was distinguished and in 1998, he became the national Junior Golden Gloves champion, following up in 1999 by becoming the US national under-19 amateur champion at 147 pounds. He never managed to make the Olympics and in the 2000 Olympic try outs had lost to Jermain Taylor who went on to take the bronze for the US in Sydney.

It was a loss that added fuel to the fire later in his career.

Turning professional in 2000, against Eric Benito ‘tZand in Indio on the 16th of June, he began with a third-round stoppage which heralded very rich winning streak. It took 27 contests before he was beaten. On the way he became the NABF champion when he stopped Fulgencio Zuniga in Las Vegas after the ninth round. Pavlik had to raise himself from the canvass to make that happen.
He went on to successfully defend that belt in July 2006, against Bronco McKart before on May the 19th, 2007, in Memphis he went in the ring with Edison Miranda in a WBC middleweight title eliminator. Winning this would establish him as the number 1 contender for the WBC and earn him a shot at their title. The referee was forced to stop the contest in the seventh round and Pavlik had earned his shot.

It was time for Pavlik to face the man who had stopped him from going to the Olympics – Jermain Taylor. The date was the 29th of September, the venue Atlantic City. The Olympic bronze medalist, trained by the legendary Emmanuel Steward, knocked Pavlik to the floor in the second round and it all looked like an early night’s work for the champ. Pavlik, however, trailing on all three scorecards going into the seventh round pulled off the dramatic. Perhaps it was the words of Steward ringing in his ear which had called him overrated, or the sight of finally avenging that amateur loss, but whatever it was it ended up behind a clean left hook, followed by a flurry of punches which knocked Taylor out in the seventh round. It was the Boxing Writers Association of America’s Fight of the Year!

Taylor wanted a rematch and got one, but not for the belts he lost. On the 16th of February in Las Vegas, Pavlik handed Taylor his second defeat of his career, though this time it was on points.

Pavlik was having an effect on the world level, and it was down to his boxing prowess. He had skills and he had the armory – the jab, the straight right, the uppercut – it was not the most sophisticated, but it was highly effective.

And then we in the UK sent one of ours to try and take all his titles from him in his very first defense against the Welsh fighter, Gary Lockett. Lockett travelled to Atlantic City for the 7th of June 2008 in the biggest fight of his career. Also trained by a legend in Enzo Calzaghe, Joe’s father and mentor, Enzo was forced to throw in the towel in the third round when it was quite clear that Lockett was not going to have any real success. At the time that the towel went in, all three judges had scored it 10-8 twice for the two completed rounds. On the HBO broadcast, Max Kellerman was heard to say of Pavlik that, “he’s one of those punchers where it seems every punch, he lands stays with his opponent throughout the fight.”

Having dealt with his first defense, Pavlik next faced what many assumed was a fading legend in the shape of Bernard Hopkins. It was to be his first professional defeat as Hopkins defied his age and in a catchweight contest, dominated Pavlik. There was plenty for the casual fan to admire.

After that defeat, Pavlik got back to the serious business of defending his titles, and on the 21st of February 2009, dominated Marco Antonio Rubio to retain them all at the Chevy Center, Ohio with a ninth-round stoppage. Then came Miguel Espino on the 19th of December 2009 at the Youngstown State University where he won with a fifth-round stoppage.

And then came the loss that saw him lose his titles.

Before hand he had been slated to take on Paul Williams, but an infection followed by an allergic reaction to antibiotics that was incredibly severe, Pavlik had to pull out of that contest. Given the time to recover it meant that his next fight was to be against Sergio Martinez. On the 17th of April 2017, in Atlantic City, Pavlik suffered a cut on his head in the first then put Martinez to the floor in the seventh, but it was the cut which hampered Pavlik in the final rounds. Pavlik claimed afterwards he could not see and ended the fight losing on the scorecards. His WBC, WBO and Ring Magazine belts were gone.

By now there were indications that all was not well in the Pavlik head. He found himself in rehab for alcohol related issues though a spirited comeback saw wins against, among others, Alfonso Lopez III and Will Rosinsky, to set up another title shot.

That was to be Andre Ward for the WBA and WBC super-middleweight titles as part of the Super Six World Boxing Classic. The beginning of 2013 was the dates being touted and Los Angeles the venue, but the fight was not to be. Ward suffered a serious injury in preparation and denied Pavlik’s attempt to become a two-weight world champion. Pavlik therefore retired with his final fight, that points win against Will Rosinsky on the 7th of July 2012 in Carson.

Retirement was not good to him. The previous issues with alcohol and then the disclosure that he had been suffering from seizures meant many were supremely glad he retired when he did. His behavior became wild, and his name hit headlines when he was arrested for theft in 2013, assault in 2015 and then again in 2016.

Pavlik then removed himself from the sport and cleaned a few things up!

He is now better known for his podcast, The Punchline, having his own charitable foundation and a boxing gym. In an interview with Ring Magazine, he was to claim, “I’m having fun.”
Never knocked out, never stopped and only defeated by a couple of Hall of Famers? Added in a couple of world titles… Plenty to celebrate there, plenty to celebrate…