Staph Infection to Postpone Pavlik Fight?

Set to go off on June 27th, the pride of Youngstown, Ohio Kelly “The Ghost” Pavlik was to defend his middleweight WBC/WBO title against Sergio Mora. However, those that are planning on venturing to Atlantic City to see the defense may have to reschedule their plans if an ESPN report is indeed true.

Per columnist Dan Rafael, Pavlik has a “nagging” staph infection in one of his hands that will force the boxer to postpone the match.

Pavlik made that visit Friday and was told he shouldn’t fight, Top Rank president Todd duBoef told ESPN.com.

“He had an infection and it hasn’t healed yet,” duBoef said. “He went in today. [Manager] Cameron [Dunkin] called Bob [Arum] and said Kelly wouldn’t be ready to fight and that was it.”

While the fight is definitely postponed, Team Pavlik is not confirming that it is due to staph. Cameron Dunkin and Mike Pavlik Sr., the co-managers, refused to get into the details of the postponement.

For any Clevelander, this issue may bring back nightmares given all of the turmoil that has gone down with the Browns. LeCharles Bentley, Joe Jurevicius and Kellen Winslow are just a few of the names that have been impacted by staph infection within the last few years. Unfortunately, all three athletes would never be the same, with only Winslow currently under contract in the NFL.

Hopefully, Pavlik’s team can rectify this situation and get him ready for the re-scheduled match which is to take place in the fall.

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Pavlik’s staph infection postpones fight [ESPN]