As Kelly Pavlik has canceled his Saturday fight in Youngstown, which was scheduled to air on ShoBox, it's easy to get caught up in what may or may not be the issue with Pavlik. Pavlik says it's a business decision, but given his history, people are going to speculate and wonder, right or wrong.
And because it's so easy to get caught up in that, it's also easy to forget that this affects his scheduled opponent, little-known Michigan fighter Darryl Cunningham. Cunningham gave Corey Erdman his side of the story, and it's kind of interesting:
"I'm hurt. I'm disappointed. Kelly knew he was going to sleep. He thought it was a tune-up. People don't know about The People's Choice, but I was going to knock him out."
... According to Cunningham though, Pavlik's team was trying to make him look bad, personally. The 36-year old claims that he had to undergo an unusual extensive physical testing on Monday at the request of Pavlik's team.
"Whoever in his camp was trying to find a way to say that Daryl Cunningham wasn't ready. If something would have come back negative, they could have said I wasn't ready to fight, but they can't say that. The truth is out there."
This was going to be by far the most notable fight of Cunningham's career, and though he was absolutely a major underdog with little on-paper chance of winning the fight, he no doubt saw this as a chance to make his name in boxing. Now he won't have that chance, and he's out of a payday, too.