Kelly Pavlik has suffered another setback in his attempted return to greatness.  Trainer Jack Loew announced last Monday that Pavlik would not compete against Bryan Vera on the Manny Pacquiao vs Antonio Margerito undercard in Dallas next weekend.  The reason Loew gave for Pavlik backing out was torn rib cartilage.

“With torn rib cartilage, Kelly would not be able to throw his punches effectively, and would also suffer more than usual when taking a body shot to the damaged area”, exclaimed Loew to the media.  Loew pulled Pavlik out of a Paul Williams fight when The Ghost injured his hand and was suffering from staph infection. 

Pavlik went into the Bernard Hopkins fight less than 100% after having his elbow drained and suffering from pneumonia the week of the fight.  “The writing was on the wall twice and I chose to ignore it going into the Hopkins fight.  At that point, I vowed never to let Kelly fight less than 100 percent”, declared Loew.

Pavlik reportedly wanted to continue and fight Vera despite the injury.

Vera was upset not only about losing his biggest payday, but also because he loses his chance to be in the limelight.  “I thought he [Pavlik] was a world-class fighter.  Right now, it doesn’t seem like he ‘s acting like one to be pulling himself out this late.  If he was really hurt they would have said something right away.  I think maybe he is having trouble making the weight again or something.  If he was a man of his word, he would get ready and fight, no matter what.”

The bad news Mr. Vera is that Kelly Pavlik could probably beat your ass with one hand and two broken ribs.  You were a tune-up fight, a stepping stone to bigger things for the former champion, so don’t act like you were deprived of a golden opportunity.

With that being said, Pavlik will resume training once the cartilage heals and Bob Arum, Cameron Dunkin, Jack Loew, and Mike Pavlik decide what the next challenge is.  There is a chance that Pavlik can still fight Vera at a later date by contract lingo of Top Rank.  The contract states that there is a 30-day option to reschedule the fight within 90 days of it’s originally booked date.

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