According to Dan Rafael of espn.com former Middleweight champion Kelly Pavlik could be heading for a December 4th showdown with undefeated and immensely popular Julio Cesar Chavez Jr. possibly in Cowboys Stadium.
That’s the fight we are looking to do,” Said Bob Arum, who promotes both Pavlik and Chavez Jr.
“We were sitting around having drinks and we came up with it,” Arum said. “We checked with [Chavez trainer] Freddie Roach and he loves the fight. Cameron Dunkin )who manages Pavlik) checked with the Pavliks and they love the fight, so let’s get it on.”
“When I got back [to Las Vegas] from San Juan, I checked with both sides again and everybody was on board,” Arum said. “We’re going to move ahead in the next couple of weeks and get the deal done. I think we can do a lot of business with that fight.”
“The fight will be at 160 and he’ll get a nutritionist, a dietitian, whatever he has to do,” Dunkin said. “He’s fired up about this fight. He is fully committed to the fight. He’s even willing to leave [his hometown of Youngstown, Ohio] to train.”
Arum said he has not spoken yet about the fight with Dallas Cowboys owner Jerry Jones yet, but “I spoke with his guy in general about the date and this is the kind of fight that is right up their alley — a white guy from the Midwest fighting the son of the Mexican legend in Cowboys Stadium with reasonable ticket prices. I think we can do 40,000 or 50,000 people.”
“We want the fight, we absolutely want the fight,” Dunkin told ESPN.com. “We were told by Bob that it was going to happen.”
“After we got back from Puerto Rico, Bob called me again to talk about the fight and I told him. ‘Everybody was on board so let’s make the fight happen,’ ” Dunkin said.
“I still need to know the money,” Dunkin said. “Bob said he’d give us a guarantee and a really good upside and everyone will make a lot of money. He said, ‘I can’t promise you a lot of guaranteed money, but if the fight does well everybody will make money.’ We’re fine with that. We’re willing to earn our way. I think it’s a very sellable fight. I think people would like to see it. I’ll tell you one thing — it’s a fun fight and it will be an action fight. Both of these guys can hit and both of them get hit.
“We’re ready to go. We’re just waiting for Bob to let us know what exactly he’s talking about financially. Other than that my guy is itching to go. When he heard it might be at Cowboys Stadium, he got really excited. He said that would be a lot of fun.”
Photo By Chris Farina / Top Rank
