Jack Loew on Pavlik

Fightnews had the opportunity today to speak with Jack Loew, trainer for former middleweight world champion and WBC #1 super middleweight contender Kelly Pavlik. Pavlik shocked the boing world by walking away from a SHOWTIME-televised contest this Saturday night with Daryl Cunningham. Midday on Tuesday, August 2, Pavlik informed Top Rank that he would not be participating in their upcoming show on Saturday, August 6th, leaving his fans, promoter, the arena where the bout was to be held, Covelli Centre, and a huge national TV audience hanging. Loew, who has been Pavlik’s trainer for his entire career, agreed to an interview with Fightnews to give his perspective on the matter.

Jack, thank you for taking the time out of your day to answer a few questions. What is your take on this?

It was a decision that Kelly made solely on his own. As I told the local reporters, I and his management team would have handled the situation a little differently. I wish he would have gone ahead and fought Cunningham and then a great victory there could have led to better negotiations with (current IBF super middleweight champion, Lucian) Bute and then move on after. Maybe not fight Bute. Its Kelly Pavlik that has to deal with all the repercussions from here.

I just read an article that states that he is happy with you and really has told Top Rank that he is willing to sit for a year to let his contract run out. He is also unhappy with his current manager Cameron Dunkin as well. Is it true that the relationship between Kelly and yourself still on good terms?

Without a doubt. I am behind Kelly 100% with whatever you do and just gave him my opinion on how I would handle this. Whatever you do, you stuck by me and I am going to stick by you and we will deal with whatever comes. There has not been a good relationship with Cameron Dunkin recently and so I think if Cameron was the great manager that everyone says he is, he would have gotten a hold of Kelly a whole lot earlier and told him the amount of the purse for a fight with Bute, but definitely not wait until Friday and tell him this is the purse that you get. That is really what started the whole ball rolling. Kelly thought about that over the weekend and decided to pull himself out. Right or wrong, it was his decision and he is going to have to deal with the consequences.

In that same article, Kelly said that he has enough money and that he is pretty much set for life. But, there is a financial stake in walking away from these fights as well. Typically, trainers get about 10% of a purse as a fee, so these are some big paydays that you are missing too.

Listen, I have been smart enough with my money. Do I have enough money to live on for the rest of my life, no. Do I have enough money to get by, well, we have to see where it is going to go from here. I have an asphalt business that I could devote full time to, and I make pretty good money there. You know, when Jack Loew is ready to retire, it will all be there and it is because of the Kelly Pavlik era. Life will go on. (Rumble Time Promotions fighters) Dannie Williams, Willie Nelson and I have a young kid in the amateurs that is a phenom, so, my life is going to go on, in boxing and out of boxing.

How was Kelly’s training going?

Everything was on track. We were 173-174 pounds last Wednesday. He sparred Saturday, six good rounds, so we were finished up on sparring. After sparring we went out and ran. There was no indication that something was wrong. I knew that he wasn’t happy with the purse, but I thought we would go out and blast Cunningham out and let’s go on from here.

Has Kelly been in the gym the last couple of days, or is he staying away until this story dies down?

I have not talked to him since Monday afternoon.

Any idea when he will come back to the gym to start working out?

I really don’t know. Anyone who says that they have enough money to live the rest of their life and could say things like that after just what happened, I don’t know if Kelly will ever fight again.

Have you and Kelly talked about that?

Not in so many words. He basically told me the same thing…that he doesn’t need to fight, he has enough money. My whole worry is that when Kelly gets away from boxing, he has a tendency to do the wrong thing. If he wants to walk away from boxing and lead a good life with his family…he has a beautiful wife and beautiful kids, that is great. But, my concern is that if he walks away from boxing the way that he walked away the last time, well, Kelly doesn’t handle pressure very well and I am afraid that it will cost him in the long run. I hope that I am 100% wrong.

Have you two ever talked about what his future would be after boxing?

No. I never, ever thought that it would end this way. This kid has probably left…by his antics in the last year and a half…and as many years that he could have left, he probably has left 30 to 40 million dollars on the table. You never expect it to come to a crashing halt like it just has, but, whatever his plans are, he has to make sure that his life is in order first. I hope that he does the right thing. If he leaves boxing, I hope that he leads a right life. A good life.

How did you find out about Saturday’s cancellation?

Monday morning he did not show up for running. He didn’t answer my calls the rest of the day. I figured that something was going on. He called me about 10 minutes before gym time and said that those fights were off. I tried to tell him, “Let’s fight this fight and we will worry about Bute later”. He just said, “Nope, nope.”

What is next for you?

We have Dannie Williams fighting in St. Charles next week on Friday Night Fights. Willie Nelson is coming in to live in Youngstown, as of Friday, and he will start training here, and (Rumble Time Promotions CEO) Steve Smith wants to get him a comeback fight and throw him back on tv, probably a ShoBox card. We’ll see what happens. Dannie has all the potential in the world, he could definitely be a world champ, or at least compete at that level, there is no doubt about that, because of his punching power. Willie Nelson is a freak of nature. 6’4” and 147 pounds, and he can box, he can punch, and I have a good group of young, amateur kids and a couple of very young pros. Jack Loew is not too proud to work for a living. I am definitely not too proud to throw asphalt around and I make a pretty good living doing it. I have to get past the Kelly Pavlik era. I have to look at it as if it were over right now. If he decides to make a move and comeback, I am there for him. If he decides to quit boxing, I am there for him too.