Pavlik's Trainer Says Rib Injury Suffered Two Weeks Ago
By Lem Satterfield
Jack Loew, head trainer of former middleweight champion Kelly Pavlik, says his fighter was injured nearly two weeks ago and tried his best to work past it. It was disclosed on Monday that Pavlik had suffered a rib injury and was forced to withdraw from his upcoming fight with Bryan Vera. It was quite a blow to Pavlik's career, as the fight with Vera was the scheduled co-feature to the Manny Pacquiao vs. Antonio Margarito HBO pay-per-view, which takes place on November 13 at Cowboys Stadium in Arlington, Texas.
According to Loew, the rib injury occured while Pavlik was throwing a punch as he worked the mitts. They tried everything to get beyond the injury but Pavlik continued to experience pain on his right side.
"Kelly went to throw a punch and kind of felt like a tweak in his ribs and Kelly said that he kind of felt like he pulled it. Maybe he didn't stretch out good enough. But we didn't really pay much attention to it at first, but we sparred the following day and he had quite a bit of pain in it," said Loew.
"But then, it kind of started easing up a little bit. We took some body exercises and then it really kind of bothered him. We've been sparring for like the last week and a half just to the head, and going good. We were full go and working our butts off. Kelly kept doing bad things, you know? Dropping that hand down to protect those ribs, and I wasn't going to let this happen. I waited and waited, and then, finally, I called [Pavlik's manager] Cameron Dunkin on Sunday night and I said, 'that's it.'"
Pavlik was trying to rebuild his career after losing his middleweight titles to Sergio Martinez in April. The rib was not factured, so Loew expects a return to the ring in the near future. They wanted to go forward, but Loew says the risk involved was too much. If Vera would have scored an upset, Pavlik's career would have plummeted to a critical low.
"The way that I looked at it is that there are going to be other days beyond Bryan Vera. I can't worry about pleasing the people. I can't worry about what they're going to say about us. I just have to make a decision based on Kelly Pavlik's future," said Loew.
"Going into a fight with a kid that is dangerous like a Bryan Vera, who is more dangerous than he is good, it's just one of those things that it would be disastrous to go in there and God-forbid something goes wrong and we take a loss because of it. Then, in that case, I would have made the wrong decision. So, you know, I'm damned if I do, damned if I don't. But I had to make the call. This one, I wasn't going to make the wrong decision."
Lem Satterfield is the boxing editor at AOL FanHouse and the news editor at BoxingScene.com. To read more from Lem Satterfield, go to AOL FanHouse by Clicking Here.
