By Ryan Burton
BoxingScene.com recently spoke to trainer Jack Loew about his pupil Kelly Pavlik's future plans. Loew says that Pavlik is willing to fight anywhere between 160 and 175 pounds. Loew also talks about what went wrong in Pavlik's last fight versus Sergio Martinez. Read about this and more in this exclusive BoxingScene.com interview.
BoxingScene.com: What is the latest with Kelly? I had reported that Top Rank was looking to match him up with Julio Cesar Chavez Jr. and then I heard that Top Rank didn't think that Chavez was ready for that big of a fight.
Jack Loew: Yeah that is what we heard as well. I have also talked to Carl Moretti and he said that it depends on if Chavez looks good in his next fight. He said it could still happen but I don't think it is going to. I think after they sat back and thought about it they realized that Chavez can only live off his Daddy's name for so long before he had to really fight somebody and I don't think they want that somebody to be Kelly.
BoxingScene.com: Doesn't that kind of put you guys in a tough spot having to wait another month. You don't even know what weight class Kelly will be fighting in.
Jack Loew: Absolutely. We talked to Cameron (Dunkin) and I just talked to Kelly yesterday. We are going golfing today. He told me that he wants the big fights. He wants to fight at 60, 68, 75. Chad Dawson, Glen Johnson, Tavoris Cloud are guys we would fight. We understand the 68 pound people in the tournament are tied up. We will fight any of them. Kelly wants the big fights. Bring Angulo to 60. We will fight him too. There are a lot of good fights out there but they always want Kelly move to these guys weights. So why don't some of these guys come to us? Kelly has to make the move or he is bum. Why don't some of these people come and get us. Why do we always have to go to their weight class? We are willing to do that. We will go as high as 75 for an attractive fight.
BoxingScene.com: Kelly gained 19 pounds between the weigh in and the fight when he fought Martinez. That is more than you would want him to gain obviously. Are you guys going to bring in a nutritionist? Can he still make 160 safely and be effective?
Jack Loew: If we plan on fighting at 160 we will definitely bring in a nutritionist. Right now Kelly is around 174, 75. That is where we usually start off but even towards the last couple fights we started struggling big time. Working out four or five times a day just wasn't helping. A week before the fight we were still trying to kill 8, 9 ,10 pounds. Absolutely if we stay at 160 we are definitely bringing in a nutritionist.
BoxingScene.com: Do you think that was the biggest factor in why Kelly looked a little sluggish in the fight versus Martinez?
Jack Loew: To be honest with you going back to the last three or four fights I don't think Kelly looked like the old Kelly Pavlik. When you train a fighter four or five times a day and do the majority of your training just to keep the sweat going so you can get the damn weight off isn't going to make the best fighter. Then to have to work out the way we did during the week of the fight is tough. We as a team we f*cked up. We should have went to 168 or we should have brought in a nutritionist because we weren't doing it the right way to get his weight down.
BoxingScene.com: I had the fight even between Kelly and Martinez through 8 rounds. It seemed like once Kelly was cut the fight was over. Your cutman wasn't able to control the bleeding so that was pretty much the end of the fight. Why was the cutman unable to slow down the blood flow?
Jack Loew: First of all you are right. I even thought we were up a little bit after the 8th round. I told a couple guys in our camp that I was worried that we might hit that wall and not continue. You wouldn't believe what he did to this kid (Pavlik) to make the weight. I think between the cuts and that we just hit that wall he just couldn't fight the way he wanted to. Taking nothing away from Martinez. He fought his ass off. We went into survival mode with the cut and it cost us the last four rounds.
BoxingScene.com: Is there any possibility that Kelly's next fight could be a rematch with Martinez or does he want to fight someone else before entertaining the idea of a rematch?
Jack Loew: I am sure if they offered Kelly a fight with Martinez for the right amount of money that he would fight him. I know Kelly has big guarantees in his contract so I don't know if it could be worked out. I am sure if they offered Kelly an opportunity to fight him he would.
BoxingScene.com: What is going on with your other fighters?
Jack Loew: Actually Prentice Brewer will be fighting in a couple weeks as the co-feature on ESPN. Danny Williams is fighting this week in Miami, Oklahoma. Hopefully he will get a shot to get some TV time. I have this other kid around here, Chris Hazimahalis who just turned pro. He is 3-0 with 3 knockouts. Everything is going good. We have a good group of kids coming up in the amateurs and we are moving forward.
BoxingScene.com: Do you have a message for the fans?
Jack Loew: I think once we settle in and decide what weight Kelly Pavlik is going to be in I think we will have a lot of good fight options. From Chad Dawson all the way down to Angulo in any weight class I think you are going to see a revived Kelly Pavlik. Don't count him out because he will be back.
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