By Mark Vester

Mike Pavlik, father and co-manager of WBC/WBO middleweight champion Kelly Pavlik, was brutally honest when discussing his son's one-sided decision loss to Bernard Hopkins, which took place last Saturday in Atlantic City. He told Joe Scalzo of the Vindicator that he knew something was wrong with his son after a few rounds and by the seventh, when Hopkins was showboating with bolo punches and landing combination after combination - he was looking for someone in the corner to throw in the towel - fearing for his son's safety.

He says Kelly Pavlik took antibiotics on October 14 after being diagnosed with bronchitis only days before the fight. There was also the left elbow injury that he suffered during camp, which leaked to the media - a leak that angered a lot of the Pavlik camp members. The left elbow injury caused him to miss days of sparring and go lighter on some workouts. Mike Pavlik sat his son down on October 9 to hold a serious discussion about postponing the fight due to the elbow injury - his son ruled against it. For the next four days, Pavlik received therapy sessions twice a day on the elbow.

According to Pavlik's father, if his son is not able to come back strong, then he should retire. 

“We all learned a good lesson,” said Mike Pavlik. “We know now that if he’s not completely healthy, we shouldn’t go ahead with the fight. He’s a tough kid and I think he’ll come back with a vengeance. If not, then it’s time for him to retire.”

Pavlik's trainer, Jack Loew, told the paper that everyone on the team agreed to move forward with the fight, and now they all have to live with it.

“If they wanted to postpone the fight, they should have,” said Loew. “As a team, we made a decision and we have to live with it. It’s our stupid [selves] who put him in the ring and we learned a valuable lesson. I don’t care if it’s a four-round preliminary fight or a world championship fight. If my fighter isn’t 100 percent healthy, we’re not going to go.”

Send News Tips and Comments To Mark Vester @ boxingscene@hotmail.com