“I’d rather retire before I sell my career short…”
Kelly Pavlik is justifying his withdrawal from Saturday’s matchup against Darryl Cunningham on the grounds that he’s being underpaid by Top Rank and has been robbed on previous purses.
In an extensive interview yesterday (August 2) with MaxBoxing Radio, Pavlik claims he still hasn’t been presented with a valid contract for the Cunningham fight or the proposed Lucian Bute bout in November. The former middleweight champion remained adamant that he is a bigger draw than Mikkel Kessler and deserved at least $2.5-3 million to face Bute in Montreal. He conceded that if the fight was in America, he’d be willing to take the proposed $1 million.
In addition, Pavlik thinks Top Rank is trying to “cash him out” by having him fight Lucian Bute in Canada. On his future, he wants is willing to take some tune-up fights that hopefully leads to a name fighter like Carl Froch. For those tune-ups, he wants at least $125-$200k.
Kelly Pavlik’s interview begins below at the 43:34 mark.
MAXBOXING RADIO – KELLY PAVLIK INTERVIEW
Beats, Boxing and Mayhem 