Jack Loew Speaks Frankly About Kelly Pavlik Situation

In an interview with Brian Grammer of Fightnews.com, trainer Jack Loew says that Kelly Pavlik made the decision to cancel fights with Darryl Cunningham and Lucian Bute on his own, and that he has told the fighter that they should have gone through with the Cunningham fight and worried about what was next later.

"As I told the local reporters, I and his management team would have handled the situation a little differently. I wish he would have gone ahead and fought Cunningham and then a great victory there could have led to better negotiations with Bute and then move on after. Maybe not fight Bute. It's Kelly Pavlik that has to deal with all the repercussions from here."

Loew also says that relations between Pavlik and manager Cameron Dunkin have not been smooth of late, and expresses belief that Pavlik just might be serious about never fighting again.

But the most notable comment from Loew is this one, where he speaks about Pavlik's past personal issues, and his worry about what Pavlik will do without boxing in his life:

"My whole worry is that when Kelly gets away from boxing, he has a tendency to do the wrong thing. If he wants to walk away from boxing and lead a good life with his family...he has a beautiful wife and beautiful kids, that is great. But, my concern is that if he walks away from boxing the way that he walked away the last time, well, Kelly doesn't handle pressure very well and I am afraid that it will cost him in the long run."

This is a really frank, really honest moment that is rare to hear from someone in boxing, and the entire interview is filled with frank talk from Loew, and he seems to be sort of in the same boat as many are, at his wits' end with Pavlik and his career. It's very clear that Jack Loew cares deeply for Kelly Pavlik as a person, and stands behind his decisions even if he disagrees, but he's not sugarcoating anything here.