Pavlik causes near panic with April Fool’s joke

YOUNGSTOWN — It was perfectly scripted and worked without a hitch.

The trio of Jack Loew, Kelly Pavlik and Mike Pavlik Sr. sat with serious faces when the reigning WBC and WBO middleweight champion said he was retiring after his first title defense against Gary Lockett June 7.

“I definitely want to go out with a bang. What I mean by that is that this is probably going to be my last fight. I said I wanted to defend my title a lot, but I think this is going to be the last fight because we did what we had to do. I’m going into retirement after this, so I’m going out with a big fight here.

There was stunned silence by fans and media from northeastern Ohio.

A TV reporter asked him to confirm the statement, and probed whether he’d change his mind.

“Well, if it wasn’t April 1st …,” Pavlik said.