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KELLY PAVLIK EXPLAINS MOMENT HE KNEW IT WAS TIME TO RETIRE; RECALLS CANCELED ANDRE WARD FIGHT

By Percy Crawford | March 29, 2017
KELLY PAVLIK EXPLAINS MOMENT HE KNEW IT WAS TIME TO RETIRE; RECALLS CANCELED ANDRE WARD FIGHT

"Yeah, when I retired, there was a lot of speculation. When I retired, it was a lot of my own ways and on my terms. I think a lot of people, when they think of me, they go back to 2007 when I won the world title and became champ, but overall, I turned pro back in 2000. So I was in the game for awhile already and boxing is not a longevity sport," stated former undisputed middleweight champion Kelly Pavlik, who recalled the moment he knew it was time for him to hang up his gloves for good. Check it out!

KELLY PAVLIK ON MOMENT HE KNEW IT WAS TIME TO HANGE UP THE GLOVES:

I made a promise to my kid's mom and to myself that I wanted to be healthy for my kids. I made the money, I had the fame, and I accomplished my goals. I want to be able to enjoy that when I'm 55-60 years old. I don't want people taking care of me and this and that. And the biggest reason I think it was time is because the greatest thing that happened to me in my career was going out to Oxnard, California to work with Robert Garcia. At first, I bitched about it and as a hard head, I'm going, "Who could show me something new that I don't already know? I was a world champ for 3 years and I defended my title. I was in there with the best and now all of a sudden, you're going to have me leave my kids and my family, and not only that, go all the way across the country to the very end and train." I tell you what, when I got out there, what a difference that was and what a learning experience that was to be out there. But unfortunately, at that time in 2012, I think the Super Six was still going or almost finishing up and there were no real big fights out there. And going out there kind of drained my heart a little bit. Usually a fighter up and leaves at the beginning of his career. He goes away when he ain't got the kids or family and you ain't got no money and you're trying to become a champion. Young fighters up and leave hometowns. It's very rare that you see a champion and a 13-year pro who has been home his entire career and then all of a sudden, he's gotta up and leave and go somewhere totally different and change everything.

But the icing on the cake for me was, I got really excited and I was pumped, probably even more pumped than when I fought Jermain Taylor or when I got the fight with Jermain Taylor, and that's when I got the Andre Ward fight. Unfortunately, that's when Andre Ward hurt his shoulder and he was out for what, 2 years? And there were no big fights. There wasn't even a contender or prospect readily available for like a year or year and a half, so it really just knocked the wind out of me. I was like, "Man, I'm not going to go back out there and train to be fighting the Aaron Jaco's and the Scott Sigmon's of the world." It really drained me and I said, "You know what, that's going to be about another year to a year and a half before I get any meaningful fight," and I just called it quits. And I never really looked back on it. Yes, I got the itch here and there, but that itch could have been something as simple as hitting a punching bag for 2 rounds or going in and sparring. I kept myself busy. I worked with other fighters and then after about 2 ½ years, I was really not busy enough (laughing). And I was like, "I gotta really find something to do now." So you know, I made some investments with the money I made and I still hit the gyms up a good amount and now, just really in the last 8 months, things have really been getting busy and going good. Hopefully by the end of the year, I want to stay in boxing and open a nice boxing gym; a really nice one. The biggest thing with that is location and building. I want a big building and kind of crossover and have other athletes if they want to come in; we'll have the training equipment and things like that. Those are the things I'm looking to do now that keeps me away from the ring because I'm 35 now, I've been out 5 years, and there definitely ain't no comeback now.

BE SURE TO CHECK BACK SOON FOR MUCH MORE WITH FORMER UNDISPUTED MIDDLEWEIGHT CHAMPION KELLY PAVLIK



[ Follow Percy Crawford on Twitter @MrLouis1ana ]

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