BOXING HERALD - Kelly, before we get on to any boxing talk today, I would like to congratulate you on a personal level. Recently, you got married. Congratulations.
KELLY PAVLIK - Thank you. It was a good one. We went to Hawaii. It was a nice wedding. We got away for a bit. It was kind of short notice but it's the only way we could do it.
BOXING HERALD - I hope you enjoyed your time in Hawaii, but I think it's safe to say that the honeymoon is over. On October 18th you will be fighting former light heavyweight and middleweight champion of the world, Bernard "The Executioner" Hopkins. Kelly, I got to ask you, this fight caught a lot of people by surprise when it was announced. What was your initial thought on fighting Bernard Hopkins?
KELLY PAVLIK - We had probably about ten or fifteen different names. Guys like Paul Williams and Raul Marquez. I was on my way home from the wedding and they mentioned that we were going to fight Bernard Hopkins. When that name came up I was like, 'Well that's the only name out there right now.' If I fight Paul Williams, I go in there and beat Paul Williams and I'm gonna get knocked by everybody because nobody really knows who he is plus he's a welterweight. Then there was Felix Strum. Yeah, he's a great world champ but not too many people know who he is. So it was kind of hard to figure out who we were going to fight. So when they said Bernard Hopkins, here is a guy who is coming off a controversial decision against Joe Calzahghe. He dropped him in the first round. We go in there and we beat him convincingly, even stop him in the late rounds, that's more than anyone has ever done to him.
BOXING HERALD - It's interesting that you mention his close loss to Joe Calzahghe. A fight that quite honestly could have tilted in his favor. In fact, you could argue that he won both of his fights with Jermain Taylor; but with that being said, you just brought up the possibility of knocking Bernard Hopkins out. What do you think the likelihood of that is considering he has never been stopped in his career?
KELLY PAVLIK - Going into we are not looking for a knockout. Bernard, even when he was younger, kind of faded in the later rounds. Even when he fought Taylor the first few times he faded in the later rounds. Our main thing is just going in there and wearing him down. If we get the stoppage then that's great, but beating him convincingly. Against Calzahge he threw 20 punches a round and was dead tired, and that was against a guy that really can't punch at all. A lot of fighters make the mistake of going head hunting against Hopkins. If we go in there and just keep our distance and fight a smart fight and keep our game plan, a stoppage could come in the later rounds.
BOXING HERALD - Bernard Hopkins has been infamous for his pre-fight tactics and disrespecting his opponents. He notoriously threw the Porto Rican flag on the ground in front of Felix Trinidad's fans. He had some choice words for Joe Calzahge before their fight. With that being said, he has nothing but praise for you in the build up to your fight on October 18th. Do you think that's legitimate or do you think he is trying to play some mind games with you?
KELLY PAVLIK -Well, maybe he's just being nice and doesn't want to make me mad [laughing]. I don't know if that's a mind game he's playing. We did it with everybody whether they talk crap or they don't talk crap. The main thing it boils down to is that on October 18th he's got to face me in the ring and I got to face him in the ring, and it comes down to fighting. If it is a mind game it's showing me even more confidence that he has to use mind games instead of his fists. I never let that bother me. If they run there mouths then I know they are worried about something.
BOXING HERALD - Though you are the reigning middleweight champion of the world, you are moving up in weight to fight Hopkins. This fight will be fought at a catch-weight of 170 pounds, technically making it a light heavyweight fight. This is the heaviest you have fought in your career. Do you think that the weight will help or hurt you?
KELLY PAVLIK - Actually, it's not the heaviest. I fought three fights at 169 and one at 170. I think it helps because of the fact that I get to eat and reenergize my body. After training 4, 5 or 6 hours a day, sometimes 7 hours a day. I got a lot more energy and my body is healthy. I still got to lose weight to get down to 170, but I am more healthy. I'm not really challenging my body and killing myself to make weight. I love the fact that it's at 170.
BOXING HERALD - With you moving up in weight to find a significant fight, do you think we have seen the last of your middleweight title defenses? Or do you plan on going back down to 160 pounds after this fight?
KELLY PAVLIK - No. We still got a lot more to go at 160 also. Abraham's out there, he's a great fighter. Felix Sturm. The only thing is with Felix Sturm is that not to many people know who he is. No matter what happens in the fight I'm going to take ridicule. The same with Abraham. A lot of people know him in the boxing world but on the outside nobody really knows who he is. We will see what happens. If I got back to 160 which I definitely want to do I think it will be against Abraham .
BOXING HERALD - There has also been a lot of discussion about you taking on the reigning super middleweight and light heavyweight champion, Joe Calzahge. Is that a fight you would like?
KELLY PAVLIK - Yeah, definitely. Calzaghe keeps shoving it out there for whatever reason, I don't know. I got a fight against Hopkins, he's got a fight against Jones. If he gets past Jones, it's going to be a great accomplishment. Right now his chances aren't too good in my opinion. But for some reason his eyes are on me and I don't know why. He still has a big fight in front of him. If he gets past Jones it's definitely a big match up in the future. As of right now we both have big tasks ahead of us.
BOXING HERALD - Lets talk about your fans. I know that our Director Of Operations for BoxingHerald.com, Ed Anderson, spent some time in Youngstown, Ohio not too long ago, and he got to see first hand just how popular you are with the Youngstown community. How great are your fans that they follow you to Las Vegas, to Atlantic city or wherever it is that you fight. It's almost like you've got a home-field advantage because you've got the support of your fans.
KELLY PAVLIK - It's awesome. With the local support and the fans from Youngstown, it really does help a lot. No matter how bad the economy is, and no matter how bad everybody is struggling, when you have 6,500 people showing up at a fight it really makes a big difference. Even in las Vegas. We had 5,000 fans fly over from Youngstown. It's just awesome to have that.
BOXING HERALD - Kelly, I want to thank you for spending time with us here today on the BoxingHerald.com podcast. Before I let you go any final words for our listeners,.
KELLY PAVLIK - If I got any fans out there stay tuned. I'm going to be a good show. Just watch and enjoy.
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