Winning another boxing title means more to Kelly “The Ghost” Pavlik than staying sober. So says the former champ himself in a compelling new ESPN E-60 feature.
If you have the slightest interest in boxing, or just appreciate a good human-interest feature, this program is worth checking out. As it turns out, Pavlik’s battle with the bottle outside the ring coincided with some of his troubles inside it.
The show reveals that the fighter has been to rehab twice in the past year or so, each time because his family and friends performed interventions and insisted he seek some help. He left rehab early the first time, and told the interviewer he still isn’t sure he has a problem with alcohol.
In the program’s most riveting scene, the host finishes by asking Pavlik which means more to him: Winning another title in boxing or never returning to rehab? The boxer didn’t hesitate to answer that he’s pretty sure he can handle his liquor and, accordingly, returning to boxing glory is higher on his priority list.
The words sound like those from someone who is either in complete denial or someone who is in extraordinary control of his demons. For his sake, and because I am a big fan, I hope it’s the latter.
I’ve been a suppoerter of Pavlik (37-2) ever since he burst on the scene a few years ago and took the middleweight crown with a dramatic knockout over Jermain Taylor after nearly being knocked out himself early in the fight.
There’s a lot to like. He’s the pride of a downtrodden former steel-factory town, Youngstown, Ohio, who comes to the ring with iron fists and a heart to match. The town loves him because Pavlik embodies their hard-hat approach, and he never left after achieving stardom. His fights never fail to entertain, and he always comes across as a humble guy who is grateful for his good fortune.
However, the 29-year-old’s downturn started when, a year after winning the title, he made what now looks like a misguided decision to gain about 15 pounds and fight Bernard Hopkins in a non-title bout in October 2008. The savvy veteran ran circles around Pavlik and took a unanimous decision over the previously unbeaten fighter.
Evidently, his personal problems started to take hold soon after. In his highest-profile fight since, Pavlik was dominated by Sergio Martinez in April of last year and lost his middleweight titles.
His comeback started with a majority decision win Saturday night over Alfonso Lopez on the undercard of the Manny Pacquiao-Shane Mosley fight.
Speaking of Mosley …
Hopefully his lackluster performance Saturday in a lopsided loss to Pacquiao will convince Mosley that it’s time to step away from the ring before he does any further damage to his legacy.
Mosley (46-7-1) has gone world-class fighter to world-class opponent, a guy whose name carries just enough cache to land fights – and seven-figure paydays -- with Pacquiao and Floyd Mayweather while they decide if and when to fight each other.
The disturbing aspect is just how comfortable Mosley, who a decade ago was in the “pound-for-pound” conversation, seems in this role. The 39-year-old is 2-3-1 in his last six bouts, the only notable win coming over an overrated Antonio Margarito in early 2009.
He’s the perfect opponent for world-class fighters like Pacquiao and Mayweather because neither sees him as a viable threat, and yet the former champ’s name still looks good enough on the marquee to draw interest and make wads of money for both fighters.
Moreover, Mosley’s longevity can be attributed to, at least in part, to the performance-enhancing drugs he admittedly received from the same BALCO lab that supplied Barry Bonds. Though his case has received much less hype, Mosley gave the same excuse as Bonds that he “didn’t know” what he was taking was against the rules.
Also similar to Bonds, Mosley went from a slender 130-pound lightweight at the start of his career to a ripped 154-pound light middleweight later in his career who had a record of 7-1 between the ages of 33-37.
If you saw “before and after” pictures of Mosley, they would look just as damning as those we’ve seen of Bonds.
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