“There’s a brand new middleweight champion, He’s from Youngstown, Ohio”
HBO blow-by-blow commentator Jim Lampley 9-29-07
With a series of concussive punches and the announcement of those words, the town of Youngstown, Ohio erupted in jubilation. One of their own had made it to the world’s stage and taken it by storm as Kelly Pavlik defeated Jermain Taylor to become middleweight champion.
Over a year later, despite becoming a millionaire and headlining big time pay-per-view fights, Kelly Pavlik is still a product of Youngstown, a struggling financially strapped former steel mill town. As a result, his hometown stands strong behind him and will be displaying their support in various ways this weekend when Pavlik fight’s the legendary Bernard Hopkins at Boardwalk Hall in Atlantic City, NJ.
“I’d expect about 5,000 – 7,000 fans from Youngstown in Atlantic City this weekend. Anyone’s who’s not attending the fight live is welcome to join me at the Royal Oak bar in town. We’re expecting it to be packed shoulder to shoulder and we might even have to turn some people away so get their early”, says Youngstown resident Phil Kidd, one of the operators of the civic pride “Defend Youngstown” projects.
Despite his fame and fortune, Pavlik still lives in Youngstown. While in training for fights, he spends his night’s sleeping on the couch at his parent’s house in town, and often sports Defend Youngstown t-shirts.
Because of all of this, the buzz is enormous each and every time he fight’s. This weekend is no exception.
“The atmosphere is great”, said Kidd, “It’s like both fight’s with Taylor. We know that a convincing win over a legend like Hopkins could transcend Kelly to receiving even more supreme recognition in the boxing community.”
Youngtown is not unfamiliar with world champions. In the 1980’s, resident Ray “Boom Boom” Mancini won a lightweight world title. Perhaps because of this, residents of the town know their boxing.
“We have a sophisticated history of the sport”, says Kidd, “we’re well aware of Hopkins accomplishments and what a serious fight this is.
Still, Pavlik’s supporters expect nothing short of triumph for their here.
“I think Kelly stops him between 6 and 8 rounds. Joe Calzaghe got to Hopkins in the later rounds in their fight, but he just slapped him around….Kelly’s punches will have more power behind them.”
This weekend’s bout will be at a catchweight of 170 pounds, so Pavlik will not be defending his middleweight title. However, he’ll always be defending Youngstown per the towns adopted motto.
And it seems win or lose, his hometown will be behind him.
