Comments Thread For: Kelly Pavlik Sounds Off: “I’m Tired of Being a Puppet!”

[SOPH~ REP.]

Never was a fan of Pavlik but there is a business side to it and 50 grand in your home town is a rip off.giving his rep of doing this repeatedly will kill his career

[LeadUppercut]

Pavlik definitely has a major character flaw going on here. He's a fighter who just came back from rehab, looked so-so against a nobody, and is complaining about making 7 figures. He obviously doesnt choose to realize what his true value is. I guess he wants more against Bute, becuse chances are, and he probably knows this, Bute will make him look awful, and people will realize how done he really is.

It is not a character flaw to refuse to sign a contract that has not yet been reviewed by your legal team.

But yep, aside from that I dont think Kelly is looking at this very realistically.

[Gino Ros]

It is not a character flaw to refuse to sign a contract that has not yet been reviewed by your legal team.

But yep, aside from that I dont think Kelly is looking at this very realistically.

It is an intelligence flaw to allow your name to be promoted for an event that you haven't agreed to partake in.

It never should have gone this far.

[LeadUppercut]

he's lying he knew exactly what he was getting

to me he didn't like the amount then decided he didn't want to fight for that amount, told his team he wasn't going to fight for that amount, they advised Top Rank, Top Rank told them take it or leave it then he left it

fighters know what they are getting I have yet to find a fighter who has actually said "I have no idea what I am getting" to me and I am around fighters all the time

the guy is delusional he is stating numbers from when his star power mattered. Those amounts you got when people had faith in you that you would come back or that you were the man. You're not that anymore thus your number drops

the guy is delusional he knows he was fighting on a Shobox and not a WCB he knows the budgets between the two are different

and did anyone notice how he dodged the drinking question?

lol @ those who believe he is getting the wool pulled over him. Hell 1.3 IMO is too much for him against Bute as it stands

A good balanced post, as usual, some great points.

Kelly is not being very realistic.

But, you mentioned that no fighter has ever stated to you that "I have no idea what I am getting"..... have you ever heard a fighter state that he had just signed a contract which had not been reviewed by his team, simply because he had less than 1 day to return it, so there wasnt enough time?

I wouldnt sign any contract from dodgy Bob unless it has been FULLY reviewed by my legal team, other than that, you make a great point.

[LeadUppercut]

It is an intelligence flaw to allow your name to be promoted for an event that you haven't agreed to partake in.

It never should have gone this far.

Absolutely, but what is up with receiving a contract and having less than one day to review / consult / return, it ?

I have never heard of such a thing, even in boxing.

[LeadUppercut]

Not convinced that Kelly has told the whole story here.

But, if Pavlik wanted a way out, then Bob Arum gave him one..... when he stated that Pavlik had less than 1 day to return a contract, with no opportunity for negotiation.

Would Arum have done that back when Kelly was the MW champ ?

I dont know whats going on here.

[jville]

hilarious

Good, now stay gone.

Its hilarious how you guys on this forum have turned your backs so quickly on Kelly. Really just unbelievable, i understand everything he is saying. To real boxing people, fighters, trainers, etc. Kelly's name does ring out louder than Bute. This dude Bute has fought nothing but bums, his entire career, got handed a gift in the andrade fight, and these scumbags wanna give Kelly short money to go fight ,in a place where he is gonna have to put Bute in a bodybag to win? Damn right those chumps at Top Rank are trying to cash him out, take a look at Pavlik's resume and Bute, there is no comparison, Kelly lost to one of the greatest fighter in history, and one of the top 3 boxers out right now, and guess what? The Jermain Taylor that lost to Kelly Pavlik knocks Bute out in 4.

[Bierstadt]

The real story here is that Pavlik actually got paid 1.5 mil to fight Rubio, and 2.5 mil for GARY ****ing LOCKETT. I don't even care about the Bute fight, it's those two, especially the latter, that I'm dumbfounded over.

This is what you get for spoiling athletes. Once they get a taste of those kind of paydays of course they'll be outraged at a mere 1.3 mil (an amount less than 1% of professional boxers make, on hardly quarter of their fights, aside from a few superstars) against a name opponent and $50,000 to fight a guy who's put there as a punching bag for target practice. He's basically getting a nice little bonus for a sparring session to impress his hometown fans (whom he doesn't care about, apparently only his wife and family) ahead of a huge fight he doesn't even deserve.

Sure Kelly, you earned so much money over your unimpressive career that you can comfortably retire now. Yeah, you've definitely been played as a puppet all this time. They really ripped you off on that Miguel Espino ($350,000) fight.


Where do these guys even get the nerve?! Fact of the matter is Kelly is a nobody now. I used to be able to exchange the dollar for 50 rubles, now it only gets me 27. Am I going to demand 50 from the clerk with a chart from 2002? Get real.

[chiguy91]

The real story here is that Pavlik actually got paid 1.5 mil to fight Rubio, and 2.5 mil for GARY ****ing LOCKETT. I don't even care about the Bute fight, it's those two, especially the latter, that I'm dumbfounded over.

This is what you get for spoiling athletes. Once they get a taste of those kind of paydays of course they'll be outraged at a mere 1.3 mil (an amount less than 1% of professional boxers make, on hardly quarter of their fights, aside from a few superstars) against a name opponent and $50,000 to fight a guy who's put there as a punching bag for target practice. He's basically getting a nice little bonus for a sparring session to impress his hometown fans (whom he doesn't care about, apparently only his wife and family) ahead of a huge fight he doesn't even deserve.

Sure Kelly, you earned so much money over your unimpressive career that you can comfortably retire now. Yeah, you've definitely been played as a puppet all this time. They really ripped you off on that Miguel Espino ($350,000) fight.


Where do these guys even get the nerve?! Fact of the matter is Kelly is a nobody now. I used to be able to exchange the dollar for 50 rubles, now it only gets me 27. Am I going to demand 50 from the clerk with a chart from 2002? Get real.

yeah, when i read this article, the 'spoiled athlete' feeling popped into my head. guy isn't a big draw as he was before, thus his paychecks aren't as huge, that's something i think he hasn't figured out yet. also, with saturday's fight, like you said, it's an easy paycheck for easy work for his hometown people, pretty crazy to turn it down. but if what he said about arum and this whole deal was true, that's some pretty grimey *****. then again, it is bob arum. pavlik screwed himself over with this one though

[freedom213]

After reading this I have to admit my anger dissipated over what I felt was a great misdeed done by Mr Pavlik. Look fighters make money off of their names and reputations, it true KP should have maybe done a better job of knowing what he was fighting for prior to say fight week but I also have to assume a lot of the blame lies in his managers hands and good old Bob Arum. I think had they paid Pavlik even a decent payday this probably would have been a non issue, if its true what he says about still not having a contract until it was hurry up and sign it without time to review then thats messed up. Its bad for fans, bad for the boxers and all involved but theres lots of blame to be spread around and at the end of the day Pavlik thinks he is making the best decision. Whether he is or not is to be determined.