Arum: "Kelly Pavlik will be much bigger then Oscar ever was"

By Robert Morales

Bob Arum took Oscar De La Hoya out of the Olympics and promoted him to unprecedented heights. Even before De La Hoya went out on his own and formed Golden Boy Promotions, ultimately breaking every pay-per-view record with his May 5 fight against Floyd Mayweather Jr., De La Hoya held the non-heavyweight record for generating 1.4 million pay-per-view buys for his fight against Felix Trinidad Jr. in 1999. And that came under Arum. As we know, Arum has never been shy about taking hyperbole to the extreme. He’s the one who said Floyd Mayweather Jr.-Zab Judah last year would do better on pay-per-view than De La Hoya-Trinidad. And, of course, that did not come close to materializing.

But when we spoke to Arum on Tuesday regarding middleweight star Kelly Pavlik, it was somewhat astonishing to hear the words coming from Arum’s mouth, his reputation for rhetoric notwithstanding.

“It is hard for you to envision now, but he will be much bigger than Oscar De La Hoya ever was,” Arum said of Pavlik. “I’m telling you. That is my goal.”Don’t laugh. Not too hard, anyway. Here’s why: Pavlik is just the type of fighter who could be boxing’s next superstar, both in and out of the ring. First of all, there was no surprise whatsoever regarding his technical knockout of Edison Miranda last Saturday in Memphis, Tenn. The hard-hitting Pavlik squared off with an equally powerful Miranda. It was No. 1-ranked Pavlik against No. 2-ranked Miranda. The warriors went at each other in vicious fashion, and Pavlik came out on top in a big way. Pavlik will never run from anybody. De La Hoya ran from Trinidad – and lost.

Out of the ring, there is no way Pavlik can compete with De La Hoya, he of the Hollywood looks, and the Hollywood story that was his mother’s death from cancer before he won the gold medal in the 1992 Barcelona Games. Pavlik is just an ordinary-looking bald buy whose face always seem to show the wear and tear of having been in a fight, even though he has never lost. You could blow on Pavlik’s face, and a welt would probably appear out on it.

Then again, Pavlik (31-0, 28 KOs) is really a tremendous young man. It could be the public is getting tired of De La Hoya. After all, he has dominated the headlines for more than a decade. Certainly, the public didn’t exactly fall in love with Mayweather and all his trash talking during the promotion for the De La Hoya fight. Pavlik, of Youngstown, Ohio, treats everyone with respect and humility. He’s fresh, he’s exciting. And so inviting to Arum (sorry, Kool & the Gang).

“Kelly really came through,” Arum said of Pavlik’s seventh-round stoppage of Miranda. “We had all the faith in Kelly. There is another fighter that Top Rank has promoted from the get-go. Every single one of his fights have been promoted by us. He has been brought along the right way, and we think he is the best middleweight today.”

Since Pavlik, 25, stopped Miranda a few days ago, all the talk has centered on whether Pavlik will next fight Jermain Taylor. Taylor won a lackluster split decision over Cory Spinks in Saturday’s main event in Memphis to retain his World Boxing Council and World Boxing Organization belts. Since Pavlik-Miranda was a title elimination fight for the WBC, Pavlik earned a shot at Taylor. But as everyone knows by now, there is also the chance that Taylor could move up in weight and fight super middleweight champion Joe Calzaghe. Arum, needless to say, is hopeful that Pavlik, known as “Ghost,” will be the next fighter with whom Taylor tangles.

“I’m very optimistic that we can make the Jermain Taylor-Kelly Pavlik fight in September of this year,” Arum said. “And trust me, after he beats Taylor, this guy isn’t fighting twice a year (like Taylor did in 2006). He is fighting four times a year. You are going to see him all over.”

By all over, Arum means on more than HBO, which televised Saturday’s card in Memphis.

“We are not going to sign an exclusive contract with HBO,” Arum said, “not that we would not want to be with HBO on many fights. But Kelly and his family are not all about money. And I want to go back on network television in prime time.”

What a novel idea.

Steward crossed the line

Trainer Emanuel Steward went too far in his attempt to motivate Taylor during his snooze-fest with Spinks. Hey, nothing wrong with yelling at your fighter if he’s not doing anything you tell him. But to tell him, in the middle of a fight in which he is struggling, that this is why you told him you wanted him to fight Edison Miranda instead of Spinks, was just wrong. How do you expect to get through to your fighter when you are throwing the “I told you so” routine at him?

Interestingly, a little bird told us Tuesday it was ironic that Steward would say that to Taylor, considering it was “Steward who hand-picked Spinks” for Taylor. Steward could not be reached for comment.

Tell you what, though, it is the opinion here that Steward will not be back in Taylor’s corner for his next fight. Bottom line is, since Steward took over for Pat Burns, Taylor seems to have regressed. Not to blame that on Steward. Sometimes a trainer and fighter just don’t connect. And there was little connection between the two last Saturday, when Taylor at times looked at Steward like he had rocks in his head.