Twelve days remain for Jermain Taylor to exercise his rematch option with KellyPavlik, who got up from a second-round knockdown to stop Taylor in the seventh round Sept. 29 in Atlantic City.
As Pavlik and his promoter, Bob Arum, await word from Taylor and his promoter,Lou DiBella, Pavlik has been enjoying the fruits that come with being the new middleweight champion of the world.
Pavlik, of Youngstown, Ohio, last Sunday was invited to perform the honorary coin flip prior to the Cleveland Browns’ home game against the Miami Dolphins. After the flip, Pavlik watched Cleveland’s victory with Browns Hall of Fame running back Jim Brown.
Then Tuesday, Pavlik threw out the first pitch of Game 4 of the American League Championship Series between the Cleveland Indians and Boston Red Sox at Cleveland’s Jacobs Field; the Indians won.
Pavlik has also accepted invitations from the Cleveland Cavaliers to attend their Nov16 home game against the Utah Jazz, and from Ohio State to travel with the Buckeyes for their rivalry football game at Michigan on Nov. 17.
We spoke with Arum on Tuesday about the telling moments of Pavlik’s victory over Taylor, who was attempting to make the fifth successful defense of his two belts. Arum recalled vividly his feelings when Pavlik was decked early and nearly stopped.
“I was very concerned, obviously, in the second round,” Arum said. “Anybody who says he wasn’t concerned and was rooting for Pavlik, is lying. But after the round was over, I was not concerned, particularly when I turned to (matchmaker) Bruce Trampler and said, ‘Is he finished?’ And Trampler said, “Absolutely not. He is going to win the fight.’ ”
It’s no secret that the middleweight division has always been Arum’s favorite. Not only does he now promote the best middleweight in the world, Pavlik is only 25.
“Well, he just showed what a terrific kid he was, what a resilient fighter he was and I was very proud of his performance and very proud of the way he acted,” Arum said. “I just think that Kelly is a super guy and I think that he has a great career ahead of him.”
Arum said there has been talk that Taylor, who had 30 days from the date of his fight with Pavlik to exercise a rematch clause, might want to take an interim fight before squaring off with Pavlik again. If that scenario unfolds, Arum said there is a possibility that Pavlik would first defend his belts against John Duddy. However, contrary to a report that surfaced Tuesday in The Vindicator, a Youngstown newspaper, Arum said that a fight with Duddy is not a done deal.
“That is totally incorrect,” Arum said. “That fight might happen, but I don’t know where the hell that came from.”
Meanwhile, a dream fight between Pavlik and super middleweight champion Joe Calzaghe was discussed Tuesday during a conference call with Calzaghe, who Nov. 3 will take on Mikkel Kessler in a title unification fight in Cardiff, Wales.
Calzaghe watched Pavlik’s extraordinary stoppage of Taylor, and he said he was more than a little impressed.
“I thought it was an excellent performance, a really exciting fight,” said Calzaghe, who will be attempting to make his 21st title defense. “He (Pavlik) did really well, especially after he was down. A lot of credit goes out to his heart and courage after such a … he was so badly shaken in an early round and to come back the way he did, it was fantastic for him. It was really good. Obviously, he established himself as the No. 1 middleweight in the world. Hopefully, now he will come up to super middleweight and possibly have a crack at me after I’ve dealt with Kessler.”
Calzaghe made it a point to tell reporters that he probably has no more than three fights left before he hangs up his gloves. One of his remaining goals is to move up for a marquee fight at light heavyweight, perhaps with Bernard Hopkins. Which means that he might have just two more fights at super middleweight – the one with Kessler, and we can only hope one with Pavlik.
Calzaghe also said Tuesday that he would like to have one big fight in the United States before he retires. Calzaghe, 35, of Newbridge, Wales, has 43 professional fights, all of which he has won. Forty-two of them have been in the United Kingdom, the other in Germany.
A Pavlik-Calzaghe fight in Las Vegas would be sweet, to be sure. But Arum said he didn’t care if the fight was in the U.S. or in the UK.
“The ring,” Arum said, “is the same.”
Our telephone conversation with Arum on Tuesday took place at noon, just before he was about to head out for lunch somewhere near his Las Vegas offices. But we didn’t let him go until getting a brief update on Manny Pacquiao, who Oct. 6 in Las Vegas defeated Marco Antonio Barrera for the second time.
After Pacquiao won a unanimous decision, there were reports that he would immediately move up to the 135-pound lightweight division. Arum said that will eventually happen, but not just yet. For now, he will continue to campaign as a 130-pound super featherweight.
“We’re going to sit down with Manny and present all the options,” said Arum,Pacquiao’s promoter. (Golden Boy Promotions also has a piece of Pacquiao, but Arum’s Top Rank Inc. makes the decisions). “One of the options is Juan Manuel Marquez. But Marquez has a fight in November and we’ll see how he comes out of that.”
Marquez is scheduled to defend his super featherweight belt against Rocky Juarez on Nov. 3 at Desert Diamond Casino in Tucson, Ariz.
“And another option is either (Humberto) Soto or (Joan) Guzman,” Arum said. “And we’ll take it from there. And, of course, there is David Diaz.”
Soto will challenge Guzman for his super featherweight belt Nov. 17 in Atlantic City.
But a fight with Diaz would certainly mean a move up for Pacquiao, as Diaz holds one of the lightweight championship belts.