By Osman Rodriguez
Former middleweight champion Kelly Pavlik (37-2, 32 KOs) will return on April 14th at the Mandalay Bay in Las Vegas. The fight will be a ten round bout at 166-pounds, reportedly against Scott Sigmon (21-3, 12 KOs) of Lynchburg, Va. Lightweights Yuriorkis Gamboa and Brandon Rios will headline the show in an HBO televised main event. Pavlik, inactive since May 7, is now trained by Robert Garcia of Oxnard, California.
Top Rank's CEO Bob Arum confirmed the fight, but not the opponent, to Pavlik's hometown paper, The Vindicator. Pavlik will have at least two tune-up bouts, and then a possible title fight at 160-pounds, against WBC champion Julio Cesar Chavez Jr., who is also promoted by Top Rank.
"There's a lot of rust," Arum said. "We want to see how he handles the weight. Garcia said there's no problem getting him back down to 160 so if it looks like he's back [after the two fights], then we'll make a pay-per-view fight against Chavez."
