Lem Satterfield of The RING has a lengthy back-and-forth between Kelly Pavlik's manager Cameron Dunkin and his trainer Jack Loew, and Loew -- who has seemed to be the straightest shooter in the entire saga from the last two weeks -- says he's tired of the entire situation.
"You know, I've kept my mouth shut for a long time, and I'm not taking the blame for anything. So you ask questions, and you will get the truth from me from here on out. I ain't going to be the scapegoat for any of this f------g s--t going on in Team Pavlik no more.
"I have no reason to say anything other than the truth about this and how it happened. Either Kelly didn't tell Cameron the truth, or Cameron just did not say what Kelly said. Because none of what they said is true. None of it. Somebody's lying."
Pavlik canceled a September 6 bout with Darryl Cunningham, and with it a November 5 date with Lucian Bute, both bouts which were set to be aired on Showtime. Showtime has been supporting Pavlik's comeback with Top Rank, but now that whole bridge is probably burned.
The miscommunication (if that's what it is) going on here is alarming. While we might all agree that Kelly Pavlik grossly inflates his own value right now, what's not up for debate is that Kelly Pavlik is worth some money. The $1.35 million he was offered for the Bute is not peanuts. There are a lot of guys who would kill for a $1.35 million payday and a shot at Bute, but OK, Kelly Pavlik thinks he's a big star.
Truth is, something is rotten here, somewhere. Pavlik apparently was being misinformed from one direction or another, and it wouldn't surprise me if at this point, Pavlik has no idea what in the hell has really gone down in the last two weeks. This story is just all over the place. Dunkin blames Loew, Loew blames Dunkin, each of them have different versions of conversations with Pavlik. When you look at it this way, my God, I almost can't blame Pavlik for pulling back and trying to take some kind of control of his career. Obviously there need to be major changes, and obviously Pavlik has done serious damage to his reputation no matter what the story is here, but what happened here seems like it couldn't have gone on much longer anyway. I'm not saying I feel bad for Pavlik, but there is more to this than just whatever faults Kelly Pavlik has, and surely he has his share and then some.
I really do recommend reading the entire linked article at The RING to get the full perspective here. It's a true blue mess. The team looks like it's just plain disintegrating right now, and it would appear at this point that sooner or later, someone important is going to have to go. That may not save Pavlik's floundering career, but the warring within the camp surely isn't going to help.