By Mel Ohlhoft
Speaking with The Plain Dealer, trainer Jack Loew informed the paper that former middleweight champion Kelly Pavlik has not called him in several weeks. Pavlik was scheduled to return on August 6th in Youngstown for a fight Showtime televised fight with Darryl Cunningham. Pavlik was unhappy with his purse for the bout with Cunningam, but he was more upset with a guaranteed offer of $1.35 million for a clash with IBF super middleweight champion Lucian Bute.
For some reason, Pavlik was led to believe that Mikkel Kessler was offered a guarantee of over $3 million to face Bute; an amount of money that was far larger than the actual guarantee of $750,000 presented to Kessler. Pavlik's career is still in limbo since the withdrawal. Bute's team replaced Pavlik with Glen Johnson.
“It happened and it's over,” said Jack Loew. “It was totally Kelly's decision. I couldn't give you a yes or a no about what's going to happen. I haven't talked to Kelly since it was canceled. If he wants to fight, we'll move forward.”