Kelly Pavlik sent shockwaves throughout the boxing world on September 29, 2007, when his seventh-round knockout dethroned previously unbeaten Jermain Taylor as WBO and WBC middleweight (160 pounds) champion.
In doing so, the then 25-year-old Pavlik demolished a man who had twice vanquished the legendary Bernard Hopkins over the course of 24 rounds, and battled world titlist, Winky Wright, to a draw.
Since then, however, boxing observers seem to have forgotten that heroism of Pavlik's effort, which included rising from a second-round knockdown and absorbing nearly 20 unanswered punches before he could claim victory before 10,127 partisan fans in Atlantic City's Boardwalk Hall.
Some criticism comes from Pavlik's lopsided loss to Hopkins in October of 2008, a 170-pound match up during which he won only a round on one judge's card, two on another, just three on the third.Other backlash stems from Pavlik's pulling out of a scheduled December bout with southpaw Paul Williams (38-1, 27 KOs) as a result of a painful staph infection in his left forefinger which had Pavlik hospitalized and near death.
In the meantime, the 27-year-old Pavlik (36-1, 32 KOs) has tried to fight his way back into the good graces of what promoter, Bob Arum, calls a "very fickle" public.
Pavlik's four title defenses are comprised of a unanimous decision over Taylor in their February, 2008 rematch, as well as knockouts over Gary Lockett, Marco Antonio Rubio, and, Miguel Espino, respectively, in the third, ninth, and, fifth rounds.
"Maybe people didn't expect me to be what I am. People see me as a one-dimensional power-puncher. The one bad outting for me against Hopkins, and it seems like that's the case," said Pavlik.
"The only thing that you can do with that is to go back out there and to keep fighting," said Pavlik. "As long as I go back out there and keep moving and working on what I have to work on and winning, that will silence all of the critics."
Pavlik's latest attempt will come on April 17 when he returns to Atlantic City's Boardwalk Hall for an HBO-televised bout against Argentinian-born, 35-year-old, southpaw challenger, Sergio Martinez (44-2-2, 24 KOs).
The owner of the WBC's junior middleweight (154 pounds) title, Martinez is coming off of December's disputed, 12-round, majority decision loss to Williams, a bout during which both fighters were floored during the first round.
The loss to Williams ended Martinez's run of 28-0-1, with 18 knockouts since being knocked out by Antonio Margarito in the seventh round in February of 2007.
"I wanted to fight Williams. It is what it is. The staph infection, they say I was lying. Even though I had doctors saying that I wasn't lying. We couldn't make the fight happen. So the next best fight out there was Martinez, who, a lot of people think beat Paul Williams," said Pavlik.
"That's the biggest name right now in the division, and the biggest fight for me to take. It goes to show that I'm definitely taking a chance," said Pavlik. "And I'm proving to the people to the boxing world and myself that I'm taking a dangerous fight because I never strayed away from taking a big fight."
Pavlik said that he feels "100 percent" for the first time since facing Lockett, a June, 2008, third-round KO over a fighter who was 30-1, with 21 KOs.
"Going into the camp healthy this time was definitely a plus. I had no problems at all and felt really good -- probably the best I've ever felt going into a camp," said Pavlik.
"The main thing is going in there and taking care of business and being on top of my game, following the gameplan that we worked on so that everything falls into place," said Pavlik. "This is a fight that, if I go out there and dominate and win, then I'll be right back on track."
Pavlik hopes to display versatile talents against Martinez, who considered a slick boxer.
"I'm ambidextrious. I do have good boxing ability and a great jab, and, obviously, the power is there. In the rematch with Taylor, when I beat Taylor on points and not by knocking him out, I showed that I could out-jab one of the best jabbers in the game," said Pavlik.
"My handspeed was obviously right there with him," said Pavlik. "I would say that, right now, my strength is that people underestimate my hand speed, and being able to establish a jab or any punch that I can set up as a key factor in a fight."
Arum believes that a sensational effort against Martinez will restore the luster lost since Pavlik knocked Taylor cold.
After that, Arum can look to go pursue Williams, or, even IBF super middleweight (168 pounds) king, Lucian Bute (25-0, 20 KOs) of Canada -- the latter of whom is defending his crown against Colombian-born, Edison Miranda (33-4, 29 KOs) as part of HBO's split-site coverage from Quebec on the same night.
"I am convinced beyond any measure that we're going to see the old Kelly Pavlik against Martinez, and as soon as the public sees that, he'll be right back on top. People will be clamoring for his next fight, whether it's Paul Williams or Lucian Bute or somebody else. People love to see knockout fighters," said Arum, who already has entertained taking Pavlik to The Dallas Cowboys' Stadium in the future.
"The 168-pound guys are the middleweights of the 1980s," said Arum, "and I think that Kelly, when he cleans out the middleweight division, will go up to 168 pounds, and there is a lot of competition there."
In defeating Taylor, Pavlik succeeded in restoring a boxing legacy in Youngstown, whose celebrated heroes, Ray Mancini and Harry Arroyo, had failed during their Atlantic City debuts.
Mancini had been unbeaten in 20 bouts when he lost a lightweight title fight to Alexis Arguello in 1981, and Arroyo, 26-0 when he was dethroned by Jimmy Paul there in 1985.
Martinez will mark Pavlik's fourth bout in at Alantic City, where he has begun to build a following that may be approaching that of the late Arturo Gatti in popularity.
"Arturo Gatti was just a great fighter, just a blood and guts type of fighter. So to me, it's an honor to be considered the guy that is going to be the next guy to fulfill his spot. I enjoyed watching Gatti fight, and I think that pretty much everybody in boxing enjoyed it," said Pavlik.
"It's a lot for me to try and live up to, but it's great to be back at Boardwalk Hall with the fan support that I get there," said Pavlik. "Winning the world title there and having had a handfull of fights there, it's just a great atmosphere and a great fight city. I love it a lot."
Source: boxing.fanhouse.com
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