Kelly Pavlik has earned an opportunity to redeem himself.
Recovering former WBC, WBO and The Ring Magazine middleweight titlist Kelly “The Ghost” Pavlik will fight “Power” Will Rosinsky on HBO’s “Boxing After Dark” card Saturday night at the Home Depot Center in Carson, Calif.
Pavlik (39-2, 34 KOs), who on June 8 bludgeoned and battered a mouthy Scott “Cujo” Sigmon en route to a seventh round TKO victory in the main event of ESPN2′s “Friday Night Fights” at the Hard Rock Resort & Casino in Las Vegas, Nevada, will scrap for the third time in 2012 when he throws fists with the 27-year-old Rosinsky (16-1, 9 KOs) this weekend.
To date, “The Ghost,” whose only losses as a professional came at the hands of legendary pugilist Bernard Hopkins (52-5-2-1, 32 KOs) and 2010 “Fighter of the Year” Sergio Martinez (47-2-2, 25 KOs), has maintained his pledge to remain active and avoid trouble.
Pavlik, who was arrested in December after crashing his all-terrain vehicle in an allegedly intoxicated state into a telephone pole and lamp post, has long battled alcoholism and in January 2011 he left the Betty Ford Clinic for the second time.
In addition to his issues with alcohol, Pavlik also underwent two major surgeries on his left hand in 2009 to mend a stubborn staph infection that placed his overall health in grave jeopardy.
Many analysts believed a rested, healthy and sober Pavlik could regain his prowess in the ring.
Alarmingly, The (Youngstown, Ohio) Vindicator newspaper reported Pavlik was involved in a drunken fracas with his brother at his parents’ home last August.
“The Ghost” apparently fled before the fuzz arrived and his bloodied sibling declined to press charges against the tipsy slugger.
According to police reports, the tormented 30-year-old pugilist “punched the west-facing side door of the home and pulled his brother, Michael, out of the broken window.”
Official police records also noted that the two brothers were boozing when the violence erupted.
Last autumn, Pavlik’s lifelong trainer, Jack Loew, revealed to SI.com he split with the erstwhile superstar he taught to fight at the age of nine out of his South Side Boxing Club.
Pavlik’s aggressive schedule is prudent and extremely encouraging.
Although “The Ghost” lost the prime of his boxing career to the evils of firewater, with diligence and determination, Kelly Pavlik has the abilities to again ascend to the top of the super middleweight landscape.
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