According to Dan Rafael of espn.com, former world Middleweight champion Kelly Pavlik is scheduled to leave an Alcohol treatment facility on Tuesday.
Pavlik was at the Betty Ford Clinic in Rancho Mirage, California according to his manager Cameron Dunkin.
“He’s real hungry and wants to come back,” Dunkin said.
“Mike (Pavlik’s father) told me Kelly sounds 150 percent better and that he’s got a great attitude,” Dunkin said. “I told Mike, ‘Let’s not worry about boxing right now. Let’s see how he feels when he gets out.’ But Kelly wants to box. Mike said all he does is talk about it constantly. He wants to mend his ways and accomplish so many other things in boxing. He’s very motivated to fight again. I said, ‘Let’s take it one step at a time.’ There’s no pressure on Kelly and no rush.”
Dunkin said that Top Rank’s Bob Arum is aware of the situation and that he told him that if Pavlik is up to it, he would give him a spot on the undercard of Pacquiao’s fight with Shane Mosley on May 7 at the MGM Grand in Las Vegas.
“Bob says we have May 7 if Kelly wants it and that would be a great place for him to start again,” Dunkin said. “But we just don’t know. It’s out there for him if he wants it. It’s all up to Kelly now.
“I’d like to see the old Kelly back, but I’ll be happy just to see him back and not doing all that nonsense.”
“They let him work out and he’s been running and exercising and lifting,” Dunkin said. “He’s literally been training four to six hours a day because he has nothing else to do besides attend his meetings and stuff.”
Photo by Claudia Bocanegra
