Pavlik to pull out of Saturdays fight over Bute offer ?

Kelly Pavlik apparently has threatened to pull out of Saturday's fight against Darryl Cunningham over the offer he received to face IBF super middleweight titleholder Lucian Bute in his next fight, RingTV.com has learned.

A source familiar with the negotiations said Pavlik (36-2, 32 knockouts) is upset because he has been offered far less by his promotion frim, Top Rank, than Mikkel Kessler was offered to face Bute. Kessler turned down the offer.

"Kelly had heard that Kessler was being offered something like $3.5 million, and that he turned that down. So Kelly wasn't really happy with the $1.1 million that Top Rank was offering him," the source said on Tuesday, speaking on the condition of anonymity.

"So I would say that right now, I don't think that (Saturday's) fight's going to happen. Unless, of course, Top Rank comes back with something [better.]"

Pavlik, the former middleweight champion, pulled out of a fight with Paul Williams last year because of a staph infection in his hand.

"This had nothing to do with an injury," the source said.

Showtime is scheduled to televise the Pavlik-Cunningham fight.

gomez1012 wrote:yea 1.1 is pretty good

UBeeg9cats wrote:He has to know he can't get 3.5 million. These articles always make me sad how delusional some boxers truly are. He's also stupid to pull out of a fight he has already trained and put in all the work for.

UBeeg9cats wrote:Dan's twitter says Kelly is officially pulled out. How do people get convinced this is a wise business choice? He has just alienated his entire fanbase.

Was told by @ToddDuboef that Kelly Pavlik pulled out of Saturday's Showtime fight vs. Cunningham. Card is off. No real reason given.

flapanther2001 wrote:Who the hell is advising this guy? He is seriously making one bad decision after the next.

gomez1012 wrote:

flapanther2001 wrote:Who the hell is advising this guy? He is seriously making one bad decision after the next.

Dr. Jack Daniels

UBeeg9cats wrote:I'm sad because Dannie Williams is a nice lightweight prospect from the STL. He had a very solid fight on the card. Pavlik's greed or craziness doesn't just affect him, it has reverberations among these undercard fighters.

Tobe wrote:

GrantZilla wrote:I expect to hear a press release from TR stating that Pavlik and them are parting ways.

"The way I read it is that he doesn’t want to fight anymore. ... I don’t know what more you can do. So it seems to me, coming the way it did, the week of the fight, it seems to me that he has second thoughts about fighting. ... I’m really troubled by this. It’s got nothing to do with him fighting or not fighting. I’m past that. I’m really troubled by what’s happening with him as a person."

"It wasn't mentioned [drinkings] but it's the first thing I speculated," duBoef said. "My first thought was I hope his health is not at risk. We operate gingerly with Kelly as it relates to his demons from the past. We take direction from his team.

"But the behavior here is somewhat erratic and unprofessional. I'm very sympathetic to (Showtime), the fans, my staff, the (Covelli Centre) and the people in Youngstown who were looking forward to this and working on the event. Unfortunately, it did not come about. There is some soul searching to do for Kelly and his team. The answers more lie with him than anyone else."

GrantZilla wrote:Yeah, Pavlik is gone from TR for sure. This cost TR money to set up the fight, promote, ect. Not to mention this makes them look bad with Showtime.

Pavlik too much risk and at this point not real reward. He's gone

GrantZilla wrote:Bute should fight Glen Johnson now.