By Mark Vester

According to the Youngstown Vindicator , WBC/WBO middleweight champion Kelly Pavlik is unable to move forward with his December 5 clash with Paul Williams. The fight was previously scheduled for October, and postponed due to a staph infection suffered by Pavlik and later rescheduled for the December date. Pavlik's trainer Jack Loew says the staph infection has not gone away as expected and his fighter is unable to close his left hand.

"He's trying," said Loew. "He's been running, he's been trying to train in the gym. He's trying to shadow box with one hand, hit the speed bag with one hand. ... I've been trying to keep it a secret but it's not going great and I'm not going to fool anybody any longer."

They are trying to reschedule the fight for January 23 but Williams' side may not accept another postponement.