Pavlik reflects on battles with alcoholism

[Nick Name]

Poor Kid...

He was not indeed prepared for the star status the media and fans accorded to him.

Mentally, it got him nowhere...



no wonder he lost the ability to be competitive in the ring against slick and tough warriors like hopkins and martinez. He could not find the toughness inside him, he was broken in those two tough fights.

It was not so much the physical, but more of the mental that he lost those fights.

Indeed. Pavlik lost his confidence without a true reason in the Hopkins fight, and wasn't able to recover in time to fight a true champion like Martinez. And why? Because he thought he took a shameful beating from Hopkins, but the "funny" (sad?) thing is: he had no reason whatsoever to despite himself that way. Because Hopkins might indeed be slick but he doesn't hit any harder than Kelly... He's just too heavy for him, that's it. Hopkins is indeed a legend but he also likes to raise a big fuss around himself... The victory against Pavlik was just a matter of weight: you could see it in Pavlik's eyes, the frustration to fight against a heavier and more muscular opponent. Pavlik was in awe of Hopkins and I can understand that, but what I don't understand is how can Pavlik despise himself that way for losing against an opponent who normally fights 10 pounds above Pavlik's weight!

My point is: PAVLIK MUST STAY AT 160. He's not a slugger nor a pressure fighter. He's tall and thin, so he makes easy target for stocky pressure fighters such as Ward or Bute: he must understand that there's no reason to go looking for trouble with the 168ers... Sturm, Sylvester, a rematch with Martinez... And then Chavez jr. and Lemieux: these are the guys I want Kelly to crush. If he stays at 160, he'll be the greatest middleweight of his era. Gaining weight to fight Hopkins was the biggest mistake of his career. I believe he is even better than Martinez, he just has to jump off that silly Supermiddleweight trip. It's just my point.

[VolumePuncher]

For those of you who keep telling him to move away, I'm not trying to insult you, but you just don't get it. As an Ohio native (currently residing in WV for the time being), I've had the opportunity to see first hand how big of a deal he is in Youngstown, and believe me when I say that the support he receives from his community is more like that of an NFL team than a fighter.

Would it be "smart" to move somewhere else? Probably, but that's his home and those are his people, so I not only respect but I also admire his choice to stay there. From an outside perspective, it's easy to sit back and say what someone should do, but when you're the guy leaving the hometown and people that helped make you who you are, it's completely different.