Kelly Pavlik Gearing Up for 'Boot Camp'

Kelly Pavlik hopes to draw another huge crowd from his hometown Dec. 5, when he defends his WBC and WBO middleweight belts against Paul Williams at Atlantic City's Boardwalk Hall.

In this final installment of a three-part series, Pavlik told FanHouse about his supportive fans, and how he looks forward to the first day of an eight-week "boot camp" for Williams.

Satterfield: What was it like debuting as champion in your hometown defense by knocking out Marco Antonio Rubio?

Pavlik: It was awesome to come back home. Tickets went fast, especially on the floor. The place was jam-packed with 7,300 people. It was a great crowd. You know, I think they were happy that night.

The electricity and the atmosphere at that fight and in downtown Youngstown was just blasting. I think that even if we had both just thrown one punch a round that they would have been on their feet the entire 12 rounds.

Satterfield: Were you pleased with your performance?

Pavlik: Well, I kind of wanted to give more and to put on a great show. I thought that was important, coming off of the Bernard Hopkins fight. I was definitely dominant in the fight. But Rubio actually threw me off a little bit.

From all of the film I had watched on him, the kid was a warrior who hit hard, came forward, fought and tried to knock you out. That was really his style. But it seemed like the minute I hit him with a good shot in the first round, it was like his whole gameplan was to survive.

Sattefield: How do you mean?

Pavlik: I had been training the whole time for somebody to be coming to knock me out, and now, I'm trying to find openings because he's fighting with his hands up and just moving down the ropes.

The only thing that I could possibly do in that fight was exactly what I did, which was to keep coming forward, throwing punches and trying to sneak one in between the guard. If not, I was trying to break up his ribs. That's one thing that he left me with was that body the whole fight.

Satterfield: Will you be training at the Southside Boxing Club again for Williams?

Pavlik: I train at home all of the time at the Southside Boxing Club, so that's nothing different. One thing that we do when we're in our training is that we isolate our camps from all attention.

It's highly improbable that anybody is going to be able to penetrate that circle. Everything is boxing, boxing, boxing. There's no fans, media, or anybody that can even come close to our camp site.

We do a lot of private classes when I do my weight-lifting or go to the YMCA or anywhere else other than at the Southside gym. Everything's private. We keep everything isolated.

Satterfield: When will you begin training for Williams?

Pavlik: I went twice last week to work out. I'm at the gym at least three times a week. But the real workouts -- and what I call 'Boot Camp' -- will start on Oct. 12, which will give me about eight weeks of training dedicated to the Paul Williams fight.

I never go more than eight weeks for a training camp, because the way that I train, if I go more than eight weeks, then I would start tearing my body down. I've been working out and just getting ready for the eight, hard weeks. Just getting all of the kinks out so that I can be ready to fight on Dec. 5.

Satterfield: How many fans do you believe will show up to support you for Paul Williams?

Pavlik: I think we'll definitely get a good crowd. We got a lot of people for the Lockett fight, and I believe there will be more than that for the Williams fight. Williams has a much bigger name, especially coming off of that Winky Wright fight.

We'll have to see. It is close to the holidays, and the economy is kind of rough. But I believe there will be close to 7,000. People know who Paul Williams is. People here in Youngstown will be interested in seeing me fight a guy like that, and I'm willing to give them what they want.