By James Slater: Former middleweight king Kelly Pavlik, now out of rehab for a few weeks, spoke with members of the media in his native Youngstown yesterday. The Vindicator reports that the press conference lasted for around 35-minutes, and during his public appearance “The Ghost” spoke about how “his partying days are over,” and how he “will never have another drink.”
A changed man, the 28-year-old has begin training for his planned comeback and he hopes to land a fight on the May 7th card in Las Vegas topped by Manny Pacquiao-Shane Mosley.
“It’s not official, but we’re looking at the May 7th Pacquiao-Mosley fight,” Pavlik said. “It’s not on paper, but it’s looking pretty good.”
What Pavlik was able to announce as official is the fact that his middleweight days are behind him. Recently, as has been reported on ESB, Kelly has (somehow) been installed as the #1 contender in the WBC super middleweight rankings. And from here on in, Pavlik will fight as a 168-pounder.
“We’re definitely leaving middleweight and going to 168,” the former champ said. “I’ve got the hunger back. I have a lot of energy and my focus is back. I’m seeing some of those guys fighting in the super middleweight division and it’s loaded with talent. [Carl] Froch is a very good fighter, but he’s beatable.”
Froch, of course, currently holds the WBC belt at 168, and that makes a clash between the two at least a possibility for down the road – a long way down the road, at that. First, Pavlik, 36-2(32) has to get at least a couple of comeback wins under his belt, starting hopefully with that planned bout against a TBA on May 7th.
A terrifically exciting fighter on his best days, Pavlik remains popular. Looking in good physical condition yesterday (judging by the photos the Youngstown Vindicator published with their article), Pavlik didn’t appear to be too far off fighting weight. Reportedly working hard and with enthusiasm in the gym, Kelly really does look as though he’s cleaned up his act.
“I was having too much fun, put it that way,” he said of his drinking days.
Now sober, fit and with a new hunger, the hard-hitting warrior who has lost only to Bernard Hopkins and Sergio Gabriel Martinez (both times on points) might just be about to launch an amazing, back-to-the-top return. A fight between Pavlik and Froch sure would be a barnburner. And now we know that “The Cobra” is at least a guy Pavlik has an eye on.