Saturday’s Kelly Pavlik fight is off

Posted Aug 2, 2011 by Eddie Daniels

Updated Aug 2, 2011 at 03:36 PM

According to a press release from boxing PR-man Fred Sternburg, Kelly Pavlik’s bout against Darryl Cunningham, scheduled for Saturday, is off.

According to the release, the fight, which was to air live on Showtime, was called off abruptly.

Here’s the official press release:

KELLY PAVLIK WITHDRAWS FROM DARRYL CUNNINGHAM FIGHT

Top Rank Forced to Cancel Saturday’s Nationally-Televised Event in Youngstown


YOUNGSTOWN (August 2, 2011) – Former World Middleweight Champion and current World Boxing Council (WBC) No. 1-rated super middleweight contender KELLY “The Ghost” PAVLIK’s professional boxing comeback took a wrong turn inasmuch as Pavlik withdrew from his upcoming 10-round bout against Darryl Cunningham today. The Pavlik-Cunningham bout was scheduled to take place on Saturday at the Covelli Centre in Youngstown, OH, and was to be televised live on SHOWTIME® as the main event of a special edition of ShoBox: The New Generation. Both the broadcast and the live event have been canceled. Ticketholders can get a refund by returning their tickets to the place of purchase.

“Top Rank is very disappointed at Kelly’s sudden decision to discontinue the rebuilding of his boxing career,” said Todd duBoef, president of Top Rank, Pavlik’s promoter. “Kelly’s team specifically outlined a strategy for Kelly to return to the ring in an effective fashion. Kelly’s team gave us their objectives and we set them on a course, which began last May with Kelly’s fight against Alfonso Lopez and was to continue on Saturday against Darryl Cunningham. It seems Kelly has derailed this plan.”