The past, nearly 10 months have been anything but joyous for Kelly Pavlik, the WBO and WBC middlewieght champion.A native of blue collar Youngstown, Ohio, Pavlik was hailed as perhaps the sport's next matinee idol when he bravely rose from being floored and nearly knocked out in the second round of his seventh-round stoppage of previously, unbeaten and undisputed middleweight champion, Jermain Taylor.
But Pavik has recently endured questions about his courage from those in Youngstown and abroad -- even as he said that he survived a near-death experience that resulted from a staph infection in his left forefinger which forced the cancellation of a Dec. 5 title defense against talented Paul Williams (37-1, 27 knockouts).
"We weren't surprised. This is really the fourth time, now, so this fight will never take place," said Williams' trainer and manager, George Peterson, to FanHouse on Oct. 21.
"We're going to move on," said Peterson. "There's is no injury. He [Pavlik] just needs a heart transplant."
So when Pavlik (35-1, 31 KOs) faces the 29-year-old Miguel Espino (20-2-1, nine KOs) of North Hollywood, Calif., on Dec. 19, the 27-year-old champion will be defending his own honor as much as his title.
"If you know the facts, you know that I wanted to fight Williams [in 2008] and he turned it down and that's why I wound up fighting [Bernard Hopkins]," Williams told Kevin Iole of Yahoo! Sports.
"I had to go up two weight classes to fight Hopkins. Williams was there, fighting as a middleweight, and he was rated so high by everyone and people said no one wanted to fight him, so I wanted that fight," said Pavlik, contending that his doctors required him to wait at least two more weeks from Dec. 5 for recovery, but that Williams' promoter, Dan Goossen, chose to schedule Sergio Martinez for that date instead.
"I wanted to get in there with him," said Pavlik. "No way – no way – would I have ever ducked him. But he didn't take the fight (in 2008) and that's why I wound up fighting Hopkins."
So Pavlik will, instead, try to take down Espino, ending a nearly 10-month layoff due to an infection which progressed into the potentially-deadly MRSA (methicillin-resistant staphylococcus aureus).
The injury caused him to be hospitalized for a time with a high temperature and heart-rate. But Pavlik has since responded favorably to therapy. As a result, Pavlik said that he can make a tightly-closed fist, and train properly.
"As we've said, Kelly has had a tough time, but thanks to the doctors at the Cleavland clinic, they've finally gotten his hand right. A lot of people don't know that a staph infection is something else. A staph infection can go through the whole body and can be very, very dangerous," said Bob Arum, Pavlik's promoter with Top Rank.
"A lot of people can die from a staph infection. Thank God Kelly is through that now, and thank God that his hand has healed properly, and so he's ready to go," said Arum. "Certain opportunities were missed because of the unfortunate incident involving the hand, but that's all in the past. Kelly is here, [manager-publicist] Cameron [Dunkin] and [trainer] Jack [Loew] tell me that he's training tremendously in our Top Rank Gym in Las Vegas."
But even Espino expressed doubt concerning the resolve of Pavlik, who is returning to Youngstown for the first time since Februrary, when he knocked out Marco Antonio Rubio in the ninth round.
Defeating Espino helped Pavlik to bounce back from the October, 2008 loss to Hopkins at 170 pounds, but it hasn't convinced Espino that Pavlik's psyche hasn't suffered a bit.
"I'm coming to fight. I know that he's looking at me as a stepping stone. [Pavlik] turned down Williams. It doesn't make sense to me that he'll turn down Williams on [Dec. 5,] but he'll take a fight with me on [Dec. 19.] -- fourteen days later," Espino told Elie Seckbach of FanHouse last month during a workout at Los Angeles' Fortune Gym.
Espino has won 11 consecutive fights, including six by knockout, and stopped his past four opponents since losing a five-round, unanimous decision to Peter Monfredo in August of 2004.
"I'm looking at it like he thinks that I'm a pushover. An easy victory to get back into the win column, because he got his but whipped by [Bernard] Hopkins and got exposed a lot," said Espino
"I honestly, deep down inside, I don't think that he wanted to fight Williams during his first comeback after a
loss," said Espino. "But this is great for me. I've been waiting for this all of my life."Pavlik-Espino is part of a two-part, Top Rank pay per view card which begins with Latin Fury co-feature in Cancun, Mexico, that involves WBC junior lightweight (130 pounds) champion Humberto Soto (49-7-2, 32 KOs) of Tijuana, Mexico, rising into to the lightweight (135) division to meet former IBF titlist, Jesus Chavez (44-6, 30 KOs), in a 10-rounder.
In addition, WBA interim bantamweight (118 pounds) titlist Neomar Cermeno (18-0, 10 KOs), of Anzoategui, Venezuela, defends against Alejandro Valdez (22-3-2, 16 KOs), of Ciudad Obregon, Mexico.
From there, the broadcast will shift to Youngstown, where unbeaten Armenian-born, 23-year-old junior middleweight (154 pounds) Vanes Martirosyan (25-0, 16 knockouts), of Glendale, Calif., takes on NABF champion Willie Lee (17-5, 10 KOs), of New Orleans, in a 12-rounder.
Next up is Pavlik-Espino.
"It's going to be 'Seasons Beatings' for Señor Espino. Nothing but lumps of coal in his stocking, plus a few lumps on his head," said Jack Loew, who has been training Pavlik in Las Vegas instead of his hometown as he has in the past.
"Jack Loew and I are taking nothing for granted, which is why we decided to set up training in Las Vegas. We are 110 percent focused on Espino and the best way to avoid the distractions of the holidays is to isolate ourselves in the desert," said Pavlik, calling distractions, "The simplest things, from prices of tickets, to, this person wanting this or wanting that."
"This is a serious fight. I've been off for a handful of months, and Miguel is a hungry fighter, and this is his opportunity to get his title shot, right here, and we needed to get focused for this final few months," said Pavlik. "We were training pretty hard at home, full force, but it just came to a point where the team decided to get away and think about boxing. That's the exciting part. I know that he's coming to fight and I'm coming to fight."
"It's great to be back training and it's great to be defending my titles in Youngstown. I'm not going to allow Espino to be The Grinch who took my world title," said Pavlik. "I don't back up, he don't back up. We throw a lot of punches, and I know that's what fans like to see. That's what we're going to give the fans in Youngstown come fightnight."
