By Joe Scalzo

June 7, 2008

1 comment

Well, I missed Pavlik's walk on the Boardwalk, so there's not much to update between now and fight time.

I spoke briefly with Top Rank spokesman Lee Samuels, who had this to say about Pavlik's future, "We have no idea who he'll fight or where."

So I asked, "What if Pavlik loses tonight?"

Then we both laughed. 

 It's interesting to see Pavlik on fight nights. He's usually a very smiley, happy-go-lucky, down-to-earth guy, but once he gets in the ring, he turns into a totally different person. Frankly, he turns into the guy you expect him to be when you first see him, the type of guy who shaves his head and has a mustache and chin hair and tattoos all over his body. In short, he turns into the type of guy who you want with you in a bar fight.

One time I asked him about it and he just shrugged and said, "Fighting is my job."

 One of the overlooked stories of this weekend is all the nice things Gary Lockett has said about Pavlik. They tend to get overlooked when he's predicting that he's going to knock Pavlik out. Here's an example, "Kelly's the new American dream," Lockett said. "He’s a nice guy and with everything gone in America last few years, he stands for everything American should and could be. He's a laid-back guy, he doesn't shoot his mouth off and he's a helluva fighter. I think that's why people like him so much." As I said before, I like Lockett. He's a nice guy with a great sense of humor. And after he gets knocked out in the fourth or fifth round tonight, I'm going to root for him the rest of his career.

 The second undercard fight just lasted about 15 seconds. This poor sap got hit with a left hook and it's taken him about 90 seconds just to sit up.

 I rip on Atlantic City a lot, but the truth is, the city is a lot better than it used to be. It's even better than it was nine months ago. My room at Bally's is wonderful, while the one in September wasn't. There's a nice outlet mall a few blocks away, a bunch of new construction and yesterday, just outside the Phillips Seafood Express, there was a relatively non-scary homeless guy picking up used food out of the trash can. What's not to like?

 Today was the first really hot day over here. (I hear Ohio is scorching.) Being a brave participatory journalist, I went into the ocean this morning. Holy smokes. I'm pretty sure the only reason the ocean isn't still frozen over is due to all the waves. Seriously, though, it's going to be really hard to break it to my wife of 10 months that we'll never be able to have children. For those who couldn't make it to the coast and want to simulate the experience, try this three-step exercise: Fill your bathtub with cold water, add ice, then add salt.

 Congrats to the Canfield softball team for winning the state title. Also, I must admit I have mixed feelings about not being able to cover the state track meet this weekend. It's the first one I've missed in my seven years at the Vindy and it's always one of my favorite events.

Hope everyone got their money's worth out of this blog. I predicted a sixth round knockout earlier in the week, but I was being nice. This won't last more than four or five rounds. (WFMJ's Dana Balash is predicting a fifth-round KO. Lou Cali of the Warren Tribune is predicting fourth round. I have yet to meet anyone, anywhere, who thinks Lockett has a chance. Except Lockett, of course.)

I'll leave you with a couple Deep Thoughts (by Jack Handey) on boxing: 

- To me, boxing is like a ballet, except there's no music, no choreography, and the dancers hit each other.

 -If you're a boxing referee, it's probably illegal to wear a bow tie that spins or changes colors.

-If you're in a boxing match, try not to let the other guy's glove touch your lips, because you don't know where that glove has been.