Boxing.com

In anticipation of his August 6 bout against Darryl Cunningham (23-2, 10 KOs) at the Covelli Center in Youngstown, Ohio, former middleweight champion Kelly Pavlik (37-2, 32 KOs) met with the boxing press Wednesday afternoon via telephone conference call to talk about his future and next fight.

Cunningham is riding a three-year, 16-bout winning streak, and the fight with light-punching Cunningham gives Pavlik a chance to strut his stuff before an adoring hometown crowd. 

“Training’s going very good right now,” said Pavlik. “I’ve been hitting it hard. This is probably the last hard week. We’re going to finish up sparring, and next week will be in cruise mode. I’m going to keep warm and keep the weight where we want it. It can’t get any better than it’s going right now.”

Pavlik fought most of his fights at middleweight, and held the middleweight crown for three years. But now he’s fighting at super middle. As Pavlik has matured and his body has thickened, the strain of making middleweight was taking too much out of him for him to be effective.

“Making 160 was just impossible anymore. I’ll never be able to see 160 again. When I was training to make weight, training camp wasn’t about skill. My last couple of fights at middleweight, it was like the big fight I was getting ready for was with the weight scale. So I think now as we’re getting ready, we can prepare more on boxing and more on the opponent and worry about that stuff instead of worrying about how to lose weight. So I’m very happy with this weight class.”

Pavlik’s last fight was against Alfonso Lopez in May, and it was his first fight at super middle. After 13 months of inactivity, Pavlik struggled a bit, but escaped with a majority decision. Some blamed it on the long layoff. Others said it was because Pavlik was fighting above his natural weight.

“I really didn’t notice the weight,” said Pavlik. “That wasn’t a factor. Timing was. I knew when he was going to punch before he did and I just had a hard time with the timing of that. That’s why I wanted to come back right after that fight to make sure I could keep sharp. But as far as the weight, no, I don’t think it played a factor at all. You’ve got to remember that I was coming down from 195 when I headed into camp, so I was probably walking around heavier than Lopez was.”

Pavlik went back and watched film of that fight. He said he “looked a little jittery in there when [Lopez] would throw punches, I was punching a little too much, more than I ever have, even against a power puncher like Miranda. We got through that 13-month layoff. But Lopez fought a great fight.

“I never really did do that (watched film), but at this stage of my career I think it’s time that we did start doing it. You can learn a lot more that way too. You can always pick up what the other guy’s doing wrong. But if you get into a lot of bad habits, a lot of flaws in the fight that you’re not working on or that you’re not noticing, that’s not good at all. So I think at this stage it’s very important.”

Pavlik also studied film of Cunningham and knows what to expect on August 6 in Youngstown.

“If you give him momentum or you let him come forward, he likes to throw a lot of punches, big shots. If you put pressure on him, he likes to go backwards—he goes straight backwards. We’ve seen a lot of that. I think our game plan for this fight is to fight like we always had earlier on. Put the pressure on him and not come straight, not head first but side-to-side angles, keep the punches moving and land some of the big shots.”

Although Cunningham isn’t known for his power, he’s riding high these days and expects to win the bout.

“Anybody’s a dangerous fight,” observed Pavlik, “especially if you don’t take it serious, or if you’re looking past it. At this stage in his career, this may be his last big name. He is 36 years, so he’s going to come in hungry. He’s going to come in wanting to win more than anything. So anybody like that is a dangerous fight. But I think I’ve faced a lot more dangerous fighters in my career though.”

In addition to watching films of Lopez and Cunningham, Pavlik and trainer have been studying film of Lucian Bute.

“It’s the big name and you want to fight big names—Bute, Froch, I mean whoever it is. I held the title for three years as a middleweight. I even jumped up to light heavyweight for a fight against Bernard Hopkins and came back to middleweight. So the big fights are key for me. I don’t want to finish my career off fighting a meaningless fight. I want to go in there and get a chance to get the title back.”

Bute is on everyone’s radar, including Kelly Pavlik’s.

“I think he’s a very good fighter,” Pavlik said. “There are some things that are questionable about him, but he’s one of the better body punchers in the sport today by far. But I think he has pretty good boxing ability too. I don’t think he’s as talented overall as (Sergio) Martinez as far as movement and slickness. But he’s got the whole package. I think what everybody sees when I go into that fight is going to be a different Kelly Pavlik. I’m hungry. I want the title back.”