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

Kelly's HUGE mistake was moving up 10lbs to chase hopkins at a 170lbs catchweight that he never belonged at. It was too much weight. He also had the rotten luck of having a sinus infection on fight night. That abusive loss spiraled him into alcoholism and derailed his career.

I know there were no opponents at the time at MW, but he should have just waited. HBO was there to support him. He was the attraction - he could have forced b hop down to 164lbs and make it more manageable.

At least he could have fought somebody like andy lee or whoever while he waited for Paul Williams to move up. Would have decaptitated that southpaw with he straight right!

Sad to see his career killed by some bad moves...

 

Fantastic wrecking ball of a fighter who threw away his career to the drink. Highly underrated because of his colour and nationality.

 

He lost to an old Hopkins, which eliminate him from any ATG talks. Solid fighter before he drank himself out.

 

Well Gennady is still looking for opponent. Why not have big comeback fight Kelly? Win this and you are top of mountain

 

He didn't "come back" to beat Taylor. He was ahead in the fight at the time of the KO.

 

pavlik was a damned good fighter. like many fighters on here, vastly overrated by some, vastly underrated by others.

 

I was a fan. Like it was said above, going to 170 was a big mistake. He could have stayed at 160 longer and then there were good fights for him at 168 in Bute, Ward, Froch, AA. Wanted to fight the best though and you gotta respect that. Alcoholism robbed him out of a few productive years and some great potential fights.

 

If Kelly had quadrupled the jab instead of just doubling and tripling it, he would have beaten Hopkins.

 

I always liked Pavlik, he had an entertaining style and always came to fight. It was a shock to see him so quickly fall off and then retire after the loss to Hopkins. While it's a sad end to the tale you have to think nobody else from where he came from will ever reach the heights he did even if it was only for a short time, he can take pride in the fact he achieved something few if any of his peers ever will do.

 

Interesting scorecards. Most of the rounds besides the 2nd were competitive, but Pavlik was landing lots of good shots. I remember Taylor would repeatedly just go to the ropes, and take hard shots, then rally back with flurries. You'd ask yourself "why is Taylor going back to the ropes?". It wasn't like a Pavlik was cutting off the ring, Taylor just backed up in a straight line to the ropes.

When I saw it as it happened, I was surprised when Pavlik stopped Taylor, it seemed to come out of nowhere. But when I rewatched it, I saw it differently. There were several instances where Pavlik would catch Taylor with that right hand, and Taylor would sort of do this thing where he momentarily froze, like he was stopped in his tracks, then he would rally back with flurries.

Eventually those right hands took a toll on him.

 

His huge mistake was binge drinking and alcohol abuse, very destructive to the brain and body. A better trainer earlier might have been good for him too. He looked totally wrecked and slow versus Hopkins..bar flu perhaps... not to take anything away from bhop who is an amazing fighter. I think Kelly was at least a little lucky to get out of that early round in Taylor 1 when Taylor was knocking him around the ring like a ragdoll. Another ref may have stopped it. Kelly was exciting and his workout videos were cool and he had a great entrance song. He knocked out some good fighters. I hope he is doing well.

 

He did not retire after the loss to Hopkins in 2008.
He had 7 more fights after that winning 6 of them including a win over Marco Antonio Rubio and retired in 2013.

 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lU60TcT9lrs

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ipClAolG1E8

I thought the countdown to the first fight was the best of the series and better than all or most of the 24/7's

a true classic between two prime and undefeated fighters with a lot to prove

 

Pavlik got a brain damage because of his fighting style. This was why he quit boxing early.