Kelly Pavlik looks to transcend past training troubles in do-or-die match
Manager Cameron Dunkin thinks it’s about time Kelly Pavlik down-play the lifelong trainer and hire a new one.
“I am not saying Jack Loew [his trainer] hasn’t done a good job, because he has; he’s won a world title with the kid and then he [successfully] defended the world title. But I just want Kelly to learn
more. Jack doesn’t have the experience of some of these other guys and it can’t hurt to have someone in there with Jack to help him and help Kelly improve.”
Dunkin’s comments come in anticipation of Pavlik’s upcoming November 13 fight with journeyman Bryan Vera. The fight will be on the Manny Pacquiao-Antonio Margarito undercard, and will be televised on
HBO pay-per-view in Dallas, Texas. As fights go, it’s a golden opportunity to shine—but some are having doubts about Pavlik’s abilities following two defeats in his last four outings.
The fighter known as the “The Ghost,” was tagged enough in the ring to lose his WBC and WBO middleweight titles to Sergio Martinez back in April. In the fight Pavlik’s corner failed to stop a cut from
bleeding and it presented a big enough problem to effect the outcome.
Pavlik reportedly does not want another trainer to usurp long time partner Loew. Loew himself has said that he would be OK with another corner presence, but Pavlik himself has repeatedly deemed it unnecessary
and unwelcome.
Dunkin suggested that one of his regrets with managing Pavlik is that he has “never been able to sell” hiring another trainer to him. Dunkin wished to employ Kenny Adams, arguably the best in the world
for adding to developed fighters’ arsenals.
Pavlik’s father, Mike, has been his son’s conditioning coach in previous fights, but backed out of involvement for the upcoming Vera fight due to an internal rupture with his son. Pavlik sides with Dunkin
in believing his son needs new, fresh coaching.
“He needs new tutelage,” Mike Pavlik said to Maxboxing.com. “I mean, he’s only 28; I feel right now he’s in the prime of his life and we’ve become one-dimensional and predictable and these are the things
I feel have to be worked on: That Kelly has to bring in an Emanuel Steward or somebody to work on some of the aspects that he had earlier in his career that he got away from [...] Evidently, they’re not being addressed over the last five, six fights. That’s
just my opinion.”
According to Kelly, though, that’s not the explanation for recent performances. Pavlik points out he’s only been on the receiving end of a fight two times, and that for the first occasion, against Hopkins,
he had a vicious flu and fever during the bout. In his second defeat, Pavlik puts the blame on problems he had making weight for the bout.
In point of fact, Pavlik came into training camp for the middleweight bout at 195 bouts, and by the end of it still had to skim ten pounds. He spend the last five days of camp sitting in a sauna and running
on a treadmill, as well as barely eating or consuming liquid. The day of the fight he was even hooked up to an IV to rehydrate.
Pavlik managed to win the early rounds, but as the bout wore on fatigue kicked in and he was outpointed by the masterful Martinez down the stretch.
“We were in great shape and the training camp was a phenomenal training camp. It really was. The big problem was the weight. You can’t go into a fight losing 10 pounds the day before the weigh-in. You
can’t do that. The body’s not made to do that. You can’t run 16 miles on a treadmill. You can’t sit in a sauna for hours at a time waiting for the sweat to come out. And when you’re sitting in the sauna for that long, and you’re not sweating, you know you
have a problem.”
The fact is, despite past troubles, this bout is definitive for Pavlik. Another loss would seriously rupture his future prospects. A win, however, will put him back on track. The question is what kind
of a ghost he’ll be. He'll be expected to win, and win well against Vera, but if he struggles, he might have critics less willing to urge him on to make changes in his game plan, and more willing to write him off as a top contender altogether.
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