It's a family affair Boxer's parents cope with his career in different ways

Boxer's parents
cope with his career
in different ways

By JOE SCALZO

VINDICATOR SPORTS STAFF

YOUNGSTOWN — OK, you want to know a secret?

Kelly Pavlik — the baddest, brawlingest, scariest middleweight on the planet — was supposed to be a girl.

Really. In the weeks leading up to his birth, doctors assured Michael and Debbie Pavlik that after two sons, they were going to get a daughter. They even had the name picked out: Kelly Lynn.

But on April 4, 1982, they ran into a problem. He wasn't a girl.

"He was born and the doctor said, 'It's a boy!' " recalled Michael. "We said, 'Hell, let's just keep the name Kelly."

They changed his middle name from Lynn to Robert, but it didn't help Kelly much. He hated the name. Kids picked on him. Fighters, too. Especially at the beginning of his career.

"He had to fight his way through because of that name," Michael said. "Now he wouldn't change it for anything.

"He even looks like a Kelly."

Parents' background

Michael and Debbie grew up on the South Side, six houses apart. Michael's mother was Sicilian, his father Slovak. Debbie's parents had Irish and German roots. Both went to Wilson High, but since Michael was three years older, they didn't know each other.

One day, the 20-year-old Debbie was outside washing her car when Michael walked over.

"He said, 'It looks like it's gonna rain,'" Debbie recalled. "I said, 'I hope not.' So he asked me if I wanted to go out.

"That's how we met."

Two years later, they were married. Kids soon followed. Michael Jr. first, then Ricky, then Kelly. All three of them boxed as amateurs, but only Kelly stayed in the sport.

On the night of his first amateur bout, Kelly had a fever. He could barely lift his arms, but he went anyway. His mom went too.

Sort of.

"The first time somebody swung at him, I got up and left," she said, chuckling. "I don't want to see anybody hit him."

Although Kelly lost that bout, he kept fighting, much to his mother's chagrin. She wanted him to become a doctor or a lawyer or even a factory worker at GM.

But a fighter? No way. Boxing was too dangerous.

"I don't want to see him get hurt," she said.

So, to cope, she stopped watching, preferring to stay home to wait for the call from her husband to tell her how he did. After every fight, she watches the tape and gives him pointers, reminding him to keep his hands up.

Moving up

Kelly did well in amateurs, losing a close bout to future Olympic bronze medalist Jermain Taylor in the 2000 Olympic Trials. Pavlik turned pro soon afterward, winning 31 straight fights to earn a rematch of sorts with Taylor, who is now the middleweight champion.

They'll fight for the World Boxing Council championship on Saturday in Atlantic City. With each win, Pavlik's pressure — and popularity — increased.

Last May's knockout victory over Edison Miranda, however, changed everything. Pavlik became a big name. That meant more exposure, more requirements on his time — and his family's.

"This is the most intense it's ever been," said Mike Sr.

After the Miranda fight, Mike Jr. started helping out, fielding phone calls and interview requests from as far away as the United Kingdom, Germany, Australia and Zimbabwe.

Zimbabwe?

"It's hectic," Mike Jr. said. "But it's not as crazy as it's going to be after he wins the title."

Although Pavlik is a private person, he handles as many requests as he can.

Some of the attention is good — Pavlik makes a lot of visits to sick and needy people, most of which goes unpublicized — and some of it isn't.

A few weeks ago, HBO took over the Pavliks' house to shoot footage for their fight preview. By the last day, Mike Sr. was ready to push them out the door. Mike's also heard rumors that he pushed Kelly into Saturday's fight because he's in debt to the Mafia.

(For the record, he isn't.)

"The good far outweighs the bad," said Mike Sr., who has been Kelly's co-manager since he turned pro. "We have so many people come up to us saying they're praying for Kelly and they're wishing him well."

Debbie often overhears people saying nice things about her son in the grocery store. A few times, her mother-in-law has pointed to the newspaper and said, "That's my grandson and that's his mother."

"I'm like, 'Don't do that!' " she said. "But it makes me proud when I hear things like that."

This weekend

Debbie plans to fly to Atlantic City on Thursday. Both parents get nervous, but Mike will be with Kelly every step of the way. Debbie, however, is just hoping to get through the introductions.

"I won't be eating anything that day," she said. "I'm hoping it works out that I can watch him come in and then leave."

If things go as planned, Kelly will score a knockout and Debbie's phone will ring and her husband will be able to tell her the good news.

Mike Sr. can't wait.

"I've never been so confident going into a fight," he said. "Taylor thinks he knows what's coming. He thinks he's facing some slow white guy. But when they start boxing, he's going to realize he's wrong.

"He's not ready for what's going to happen that night."

See, that's the other secret. The name Pavlik ran from when he was younger will get replaced by another one.

Champion.

scalzo@vindy.com