From Thriving Metropolis to “Ghost” Town; The Middleweight Division.

Can Pavlik bring himself and the division back?





Marvin Hagler, Tommy Hearns, Harry Greb, Sugar Ray Robinson, Dick Tiger, Carlos Monzon, Jake Lamotta, Gene Fullmer, Iran Barkley, Joey Giardello, Mike McCallum, Randy Turpin, Tony Zale, Rocky Graziano, Stanley Ketchel and Bennie Briscoe. It is hard to believe that one single division produced all of these truly great champions. It is also hard to believe how one of the glory divisions of boxing has fallen from grace. In the 1980’s, with Hagler, Hearns, and Leonard and Duran making appearances, the Middleweight division saw memorable battles between 4 first ballot Hall of Famers.

Now in the late 2000’s and early 2010’s, with the departure of Bernard Hopkins to higher weight divisions, we have hit a dull spot in the division. De La Hoya made a brief appearance, and Tito Trinidad had his moment in the sun (until he faced Hopkins), with above average boxers like Winky Wright, and puncher Ricardo Mayorga also having glory resembling that of a shooting star. Outside of those few brief moments we haven’t had the sustained success from the Middleweight crop that we did in the past decades. Jermain Taylor was supposed to be that star after he twice outpointed Hopkins (debated by some) and beat division gatekeepers like Kassim Ouma, and underrated Cory Spinks. Taylor’s short reign as the face of Middleweight division was ended when he ran across a Ghost. Taylor stepped into the ring with a Ghost, from a ghost town, fighting him in a place that sometimes resembles a ghost city. Spooky stuff, I know.

“This Rise of The Ghost”

Kelly “The Ghost” Pavlik stormed onto the scene after a vicious KO of feared puncher Edison Miranda in an eliminator fight on the undercard of Taylor vs. Spinks back in 2007. With Miranda wasting the whole press conference talking about KO’ing Taylor he forgot about the Ghost lurking in the ring.


After the KO of Miranda, Pavik was setup to face Taylor in a boardwalk brawl in the ghost town on the shore in Jersey, Atlantic City. Thousands of his native folk from Youngstown, Ohio made the trek to the coast to see their hometown pride fight for himself, fight for them, and fight for the Middleweight Championship of the World. The fight did not start as planned as Pavlik was rocked in the 2nd round and dropped by Taylor. Smelling blood, Taylor went in for the kill but somehow Pavlik survived to fight another round. In the 7th Pavlik trapped Taylor in the corner and unloaded a barrage of right hands and uppercuts that left the champion slumped over in the corner. The Youngstown faithful roared with applause, fueled by the beer from Boardwalk Hall (The first and only night that Boardwalk Hall ran out of beer, those Y-Town boys can drink). A star had been born and another had burnt out. Taylor has had a string of truly devastating KO’s, given out by Arthur Abraham and Carl Froch, since the one he suffered at the fists of Pavlik. Many analysts and fans (including myself) are calling for his retirement, while hes still physically able to do so.

After outpointing Taylor in a rematch at a catch weight, above the Middleweight limit, Pavlik won the normal mandatory title defense back down at 160lbs against unheralded Gary “I look constipated during the staredown” Lockett.(Lockett is on the right during 0:04-0:16) With only 2 meaningful fight options at Middleweight, (Felix Sturm or Arthur Abraham, both German based with little exposure in the U.S.A.) Pavlik was lured up 10 pounds to fight the Wily Old Fox, Bernard Hopkins. Hopkins has made a living in his career by taming young lions that are coming up in the ranks. Going into the fight with a perfect record and devastating KO ratio, The Ghost was a heavy favorite. But once the bell sounded Hopkins put on a display of boxing and turned back the clock yet again to dominate the youngster. It was a disaster.

Rumors flooded that Kelly was running a terrible fever and was in no condition to fight, but went on with it anyway. In my mind, whether true or not, nothing would have saved him from B-Hop on that night in AC. After this, rumors of alcoholism began to stain Kelly’s name. Now I am sure, that a blue collar Rust Belt mid-20’s guy like Kelly does go out with the guys for a few beers and maybe sometimes has too many, but its no need to scream alcoholism. There was no doubt that he’d been affected by the first loss of his career. In Feb. 2009 he took a bounce back fight against Marco Antonio Rubio, in his hometown of Youngstown, scoring a 9th Round TKO, in front of a rabid hometown crowd.

After this Kelly truly became a Ghost. Pavlik signed to fight Contender star, Sergio Mora, and then pulled out reporting a staph infection in his left hand. After that he reached a deal in a highly anticipated showdown with Paul Williams (had tickets to this one), then pushed it back, then cancelled again. This brought out the skeptics that Pavlik was a bum, a “ducker”, a “paper champ”, who just wanted to fight Gary Lockett’s and keep his belts. Pavlik was the new face of the Middleweight Division. A likeable, personable, middle class kid, who got to the top the old fashioned way fighting every few weeks wherever he had to. Was this “to good to be true” champion already on the way out?

After proper treatment, and a near death experience in the hospital, the Ghost got back into the ring after a ten month layoff in December. He fought Miguel Espino who, if nothing else, was brave. KP got the 5th Round TKO and shook off the Rust.


“Get busy fightin’ or get busy dyin’.”

Now it is time for Pav to get busy. I am a fan of Kelly Pavlik, I like his straight forward style, willingness to trade punches with his opponents, the charity work he’s known to do, (While training in Y-Town for his last fight with Espino, Pavlik broke his busy training schedule and visited a sick child who was a big fan and had even dressed up as Kelly for Halloween this year) and the fact that he seems like a good person. All these things can go to waste if Pavlik doesn’t fight a well known top Middleweight in his next outing. Options…

1)His best option is still having Paul Williams come up to Middleweight in a fight matching 2 big punchers in what is sure to be a thriller. Problem here is that Williams was just in a dog fight with Sergio Martinez and will most likely have a rematch.
2)Felix Sturm has fought in the states, most notably his robbery of a point’s loss to Oscar De La Hoya, but still is not a big draw.
3)With the Showtime Super Six Middleweight Tournament in progress it hurts Pavlik from luring Abraham back to 160 for what would be a shootout of big punchers. That fight fought in America or in Germany would be a big draw.
4)Lucian Bute. A Romanian, based in Canada, fighting currently at 168lbs and not in the tournament is also an option. Bute though is a very dangerous option. He is lightning quick and holds serious power in both hands, as he proved by knocking out Librado Andrade with a vicious body shot.
5)There is always Matthew Macklin, or Anthony Mundine but these fights will have to take place overseas where they will be able to generate more money. Winky Wright could….actually no…bad idea.

By making this list it just shows what poor shape the division is in currently. The fact that the champion has to look for a fight that will be competitive and possibly have to go overseas spells trouble. If you throw it back just a couple years, people would be chomping at the bit to get a shot at Pavlik, young contenders, and people in other divisions would be trying to make it happen. The problem is, even if people make the jump in weight to take a shot at KP, no one in America cares. The new wave of Middleweights is almost all strictly European.

Kelly Pavlik and Paul Williams need to step up to the plate and make the fight happen. End of story. Regardless of the "he said she said" of Williams pulling out the first time or Pavlik backing out the second time, it needs to be squashed so the fight can be signed. The fight could breathe life into the struggling division (most fighters are cutting weight to fight at 154 or gaining to stay at 168. 160 is an awkward natural weight for a 6ft person). Bob Arum, and Pavlik’s handlers need to get him in the big fights now. If not, then Kelly may have to find greener pastures, and take a bigger risk, in the Super Middleweight division.

Bottom line for Kelly Pavlik, and the Middleweight division, you either have to get busy fighting (top notch competition) or people will keep caring less and less about you and your weight class. If the latter happens, well, you might as well consider yourself a ghost.