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Post-fight thoughts 
Posted on: February 22, 2009
By Joe Scalzo
- The post-fight press conference just ended and much of the talk centered around Kelly Pavlik's next fight. His promoter, Bob Arum, said he's going to look to make a fight in Cleveland in June. The challenge is working around the Cavs' schedule because of the playoffs, but he said Quicken Loans Arena wants the fight and Pavlik said he'd love to stay in northeast Ohio.
- The big advantage of a Cleveland fight is the arena. They can sell more tickets at a cheaper price. Arum does not like outdoor fights so it's extremely unlikely he'd stage a fight at, say, YSU.
- The most likely opponents are Sergio Mora, Vernon Forrest or John Duddy (who won tonight at Madison Square Garden). A Duddy fight would probably be in New York, not Cleveland.
- The two other middleweight champs, Arthur Abraham (IBA) and Felix Sturm (WBA) generated a lot of discussion and Arum said Sturm is much more likely over the next year. Abraham is considered the second-best middleweight in the world but there are too many hurdles to a Pavlik-Abraham fight. And when anyone in boxing talks about hurdles, he's always talking about money.
- That said, an Abraham bout seems like an inevitability. It just might take a year.
- Rubio came to the press conference and although his face was pretty battered, he was friendly and gracious. He said he felt strong, but tight, and couldn't get his punches off. He didn't seem to be too angry that his corner stopped the fight after the ninth round. He knew he wasn't going to win and he blamed himself for what he deemed a poor performance. I think most people gave him more credit than that. He fought a pretty good defensive fight and I was surprised he lasted that long. He's the only middleweight to last nine rounds against Pavlik. His two longer fights came above middleweight.
- One interesting thing Rubio said was he felt Pavlik wasn't 100 percent in the fight, either. Pavlik disagreed and no one else who watched the fight thought Pavlik looked less than 100 percent.
- Pavlik and his trainer, Jack Loew, seemed overwhelmed by all the attention. Pavlik admitted he felt a little pressure to perform. The atmosphere really was terrific inside the Chevy Centre.
- We'll have more in Monday's paper and on the Web, so stay tuned. For now, I'm facing a 45-minute drive home and I want to go to bed.
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Comments
Jack Leow, why hold back Kelly Pavlic from being a household name? Kelly is a great champion! The croud at the chevy centre proved that. Jack, do not cheap shot latinos or mexicans fans with your racial undertones because you will be hurting pavlik who is creating a wide and deep fan base. the deal about the sombreo, three amigos or the sending them back. Congratulations Kelly Pavlik!! we love you!
i agree w/ the comments above we are above all the name calling etc... kelly take this for what its worth y-town is proud of you , keep a leval head there arn't to many sports that one person can control the out come ,most sports are a team sport. boxing lends itself for you to control your actions in the ring. i'm glad to see you starting your train,, go back to your roots and make your training harder on yourself this time. (blood sweet and tears). stay focus no f'n around ,you have your future in your hands, do it for yourself no one else you own it to yourself everyday stay focus .( THE KEY OF SUCCESS) visualize everyday yourself in the ring and at the end of the fight your hand is raised in victory and the fans chant KELLY KELLY KELLY KELLY !!!!!!!!!!!! now stay focused ..or i'll have my son come kick your ass