PAVLIK VOWS HE’S COMING TO FIGHT
By Ronnie Nathanielsz
PhilBoxing.com
Fri, 18 Dec 2009
WBC/WBO middleweight champion Kelly “The Ghost” Pavlik (35-1, 31 KO’s) has told a local newspaper in Ohio that he’s “coming to fight” when he defends his title against under-rated Migel Espino ( 20-2-1, 9 KO’s) at Youngstown State University’s Beeghly Center in Pavlik’s hometown in Ohio on Sunday, Manila Time.
Asked whether it included a win by knockout, Pavlik replied “As I always predict, there’s going to be a “W.”
The fight card will be linked on a global telecast with two exciting bouts out of Mexico in an innovation from Top Rank Promotions and will also mark the launch of the tie-up between the top boxing promoter Bob Arum and the giant Philippine broadcast network ABS-CBN which will telecast the card which will begin in Sonora, Mexico “live” over Studio 23.
Espino knows he is the huge underdog in the fight and accepted the fact by stating “I know there will be a handful of Mexicans cheering for me, and everyone else will be cheering for him, but that’s all right.” But Espino emphasized “I don’t back up, he don’t back up. One of us has to give.”
One of the more popular fighters in the Bob Arum stable of fighters, Pavlik has said he won’t underestimate ESpino. The world champion who has not fought since February due to a hand injury has insisted that he’s in good shape, healthy and eager to return to the ring.
Pavlik who trained for several weeks in Las Vegas was earlier quoted as saying “We’ve had a great camp. This is a serious fight and we know Miguel is a serious fighter. We need to get focused on what’s in front of us.”
After their last media workout at Jack Loew’s South Side Boxing Club, Pavlik took the pre-fight rhetoric one notch higher when he bragged that Espino “is in for a butt whipping. I’m back and I’m 100 percent. My sparring partners have told me “I’m hitting as hard as I ever have. My hand feels great.”
In a light-hearted take off on Tiger Woods infidelity problems trainer Jack Leow said “Kelly is ready to drop Espino more times than Tiger Woods’ trousers.”
Espinoa conceded its perhaps the toughest fight of his career but said “I have full confidence in my abilities as a fighter. If Kelly has chosen to take me lightly, he’s made a big mistake.”
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