Inside the Kelly Pavlik camp

Report and photos by Francisco Salazar

Former unified middleweight champion Kelly Pavlik, who has battled personal problems within the last year, hopes a change of scenery will allow him to focus on boxing again and hopefully pursue another shot at a world title belt. That change of scenery is far away from the familiar surroundings of his hometown of Youngstown, OH, where some say have contributed to his recent troubles. Instead, he traveled westward to Oxnard, CA, where he has been training at the Robert Garcia Boxing Academy since last Monday.

Unlike Youngstown, OH, Pavlik could blend in with the almost 200,000 people that call Oxnard home. Whereas Pavlik may be the main sports story in his hometown, he could take a back seat to other well-known fighters in Ventura County, such as Sergio Martinez, Brandon Rios, and Victor Ortiz. Not to mention the top high school soccer programs in Oxnard, which have dominated the local sports pages in recent weeks.

Pavlik (37-2, 32 KOs) can live with that.

“I am very happy to be in a boxing environment and away from distractions,” said Pavlik to Fightnews.com on Saturday afternoon after a training session. “To me, the simplest things are a big thing. I came from a small town out here where people are worrying what I’m doing. There are no distractions here and the atmosphere is phenomenal.”

Pavlik has not fought since May 7th, when he won a 10 round majority decision over Alfonso Lopez at the MGM Grand in Las Vegas, NV. Pavlik was scheduled to face Darryl Cunningham after the Lopez bout in August, but turned down the fight after having originally agreeing to it, resulting in a scheduled ShoBox card being cancelled.

After walking away from a proposed seven-figure deal to fight super middleweight world title holder Lucian Bute for November, Pavlik was arrested in December for driving while intoxicated on an all-terrain vehicle near Canfield, OH.

Pavlik wants to put that all behind him and could not be happier to take advantage of this opportunity to train and work with one of the more successful trainers in boxing. Since making his promotional debut in 2000, Pavlik has been promoted by Top Rank and managed by Cameron Dunkin.

He says that he has already seen the differences in working with Garcia in less than one week of training.

“There are a lot of things that Robert has worked with me,” said Pavlik, who was trained by Jack Loew before making the switch to Garcia. “I had the habit of posing after I punched. Now I’ve learned to have shoulder and head movement and moving side to side. We’ve worked on a lot of bobbing and weaving. Just a lot of constant repetition with that and using angles and side-stepping.”

“I will always have the same style, but he is fine-tuning things here and there.”

Asked how he was able to come about working with Garcia, Pavlik said that it all started with a trip to New York City in October.

“Bob (Arum) invited me, my Dad, and Cameron (Dunkin) for the Nonito Donaire fight (on October 22nd). Meeting with Bob and (Carl) Moretti (Vice President of Boxing Operations for Top Rank), they pushed me to work with Robert. His work speaks for himself in training great fighters. I’m fortunate to train under him and work with others in his gym”

Pavlik, who will turn 30 on April 4th, became the unified middleweight world title holder when he stopped Jermain Taylor back in September of 2007. He successfully defended the titles three times before losing them to Sergio Martinez in April of 2010.

Pavlik’s other defeat was a one-sided 12 round unanimous decision to Bernard Hopkins in October of 2008, when Pavlik went up in weight and fought him a the super middleweight.
Although Youngstown and Oxnard are socially and economically different, Pavlik has adapted well to his new surroundings and environment. On most mornings, he eats breakfast at a local Mexican restaurant and has been received well by fight fans.

“There are a lot of fans here and I still get recognized. The hospitality has been great and I just work in the gym and go back to my room. I feel very comfortable being here and am just taking things one day at a time.”

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January 23rd, 2012

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