Kelly Pavlik: A Tribute To The Glory Days Of The Ghost-The Pride Of Youngstown Ohio.

Kelly Robert Pavlik is a 6'2.5 32 year old retired former Lineal Middleweight Champion of the world with a 40-2 34 KO's record. From my working class point of view which is skewed heavily towards supporting unions, I've always had an affinity for blue collar cities like Pittsburgh, Philly, Detroit, Providence, Boston and places like Youngstown. That and the fact that I was forced to watch All the Right Moves by my older sister as a kid, gave me an incredible fondness for places like that. So Kelly being the epitome of a working class blue collar fighter I was instantly drawn to him and quickly became a fan, that and the fact that he is just naturally easy to root for.

Pavlik true to his working class roots has stayed fiercely loyal to his hometown and his heavily Slovak populated neighborhood of Lansingville, so him winning the title from the undefeated 2 time Hopkins conqueror Jermain Taylor after rising from the canvas following an early knockdown to take it to JT and to outbox and eventually beat him down so brutally that Steve Smoger had to call it off, in a fight that no one thought he even had a chance to win, is one of more pleasantly shocking moments in boxing in the 2000's, and for anyone thinking it was a fluke, he followed it up by facing Taylor for a second time and beating him again this time on points. So it would only seem logical for Pavlik to think that being the man who defeated Taylor twice, the man who defeated Hopkins twice, that he could beat Hopkins.....which wasn't a great Idea.
Kelly was dominated by BHop from start to finish ruining his fairy tale undefeated run. Then after beating Rubio into submission and recovering from a staph infection he decided to fight the Great Sergio Martinez, tough fight for me, since I was a huge fan of both, but I sided with Maravilla, which was a good call since he proceeded to rip Kelly's face to pieces and dominated him with his lightning fast hands giving him a very nasty almost hard to watch bloody beating.

Of all of the boxers in the past 15 years I find Kelly to be one of the more tragic figures, his alcoholism, multiple injuries, 2 brutal losses and eventually the seizure disorder which ultimately ended his career. To go from the highest of highs to the lowest of lows in that short amount of time has to be incredibly traumatizing for any normal person especially for such a humble guy like Kelly. Unfortunately for Pavlik another missed opportunity came when Andre Ward injured his shoulder about a month out from him getting his shot at the SMW title, that coupled with the seizures caused Kelly to decide it was time to hang up his gloves and walk away from the sport, depriving me of a fight that I was really looking forward to. There is still part of me that keeps rooting for Kelly to reconsider and make a comeback after all he's only 32, but it would probably be in he and his family's best interest for him to stay retired. Hopefully Kelly can stay fully clean and sober and focused on the positive, and not all of the missed opportunities and failures, but the important things in real life, and live it for his wife and 2 kids. Even though it was a brief run on top it was a pretty impressive one, and since his only 2 losses came at the hands of 2 potential ATG like Hopkins and Martinez that's nothing to be ashamed of. So Check Out the Hero of Youngstown living out his Glory Days.




:happy :happy :happy :happy
Educate Yourselves on the Youngstown Hero
Pavlik Vs. Taylor

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Pavlik Vs. Miranda

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Pavlik Vs. Lockett

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Pavlik Vs. Pierre

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Pavlik Vs. Zertuche

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Pavlik Vs. Espino
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Nkfx5vxnJRc
Pavlik Vs. Sigmon
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Z3OiyFWU33E
Pavlik Vs. Johnson
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=f0kHTJkeaBw
Pavlik Vs. Jaco
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FeEBDnH8aYM
Pavlik Vs. Beaupierre Highlights
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PRThOKHnV14
Pavlik Vs. Brewer with Hair
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZUqIO2vaPB4

 

Kelly Tribute Vid

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Kelly Docu

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Thread Mood Music

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Pavlik Vs. Rubio
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7oWcQN2pRCs
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hR8a6HjvY8k

 

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=O2eSKYmS1yM

 

:goodLove to see that, Kelly would win again, But with both of their brain issues it would too scary to watch:scaredas: