New Pavlik book gets fighter’s OK

By Joe Scalzo

Over the past two years, Kelly Pavlik’s life has been chronicled so extensively that you wonder if he’ll have to start digging out seventh grade math tests to come up with something new.

(Needless to say, he’d rather not.)

“That’s why I box for a living,” he said, chuckling. “I’ve got an excuse, though. I’ve been boxing since I was 9.”

Still, when Pavlik was first approached with the idea of doing a book, he wondered whether it would just be a recap of his career. But after meeting the author, David Lee Morgan, those fears disappeared.

“It was a really enjoyable experience,” Pavlik said. “Usually I get asked the same questions, but he went in some different directions and it was kind of interesting.

“I said, ‘Hey, let’s give this guy a shot.’ And the rest is history.”

Morgan’s book, “Kelly ‘The Ghost’ Pavlik: The Pride of Youngstown,” will be released today.

Morgan, an Akron Beacon Journal sports writer and Warren Harding High graduate, is best known for his biography on LeBron James.

Morgan co-wrote the Pavlik book with his former baseball coach at YSU, Greg Gulas, who authored a book on George “Shotgun” Shuba’s career with the Brooklyn Dodgers.

Pavlik will sign copies from 4 p.m. to 6 today at the Barnes & Noble in Boardman, and the authors will participate in a Q&A session beginning at 2.

The book will also be available at Borders; Lou Schiavoni’s law firm, 87 Westchester Drive, Austintown; The Wrist Connection, 7510 Market St., Boardman; and at www.teampavlik.com.

Pavlik is midway through the book, but likes what he sees so far.

“So far, so good,” he said. “I like that they start with the first [Jermain] Taylor fight, but then they bounce around and don’t just go in order.

“I don’t know the climax.”

scalzo@vindy.com