Dan Goossen, promoter of Paul Williams, says his fighter will be in the ring on Dec. 5 even though the three-division contender's original opponent for that date, middleweight champ Kelly Pavlik, won't be a part of the action due to the persistent staph infection in his left hand.
Pavlik's chronic hand problems have forced his promoter, Top Rank, to cancel the anticipated showdown with Williams, which was to take place at Boardwalk Hall in Atlantic City, N.J., and be televised live on HBO.
The middleweight title bout had already been rescheduled, after much deliberation, from Oct. 3 to Dec. 5 because of Pavlik's infection, which obviously did not improve sufficiently enough for him to train properly.
"This morning we were advised that Kelly Pavlik's recovery of his left hand has not progressed as projected by Dr. Peter J. Evans, Director of the Cleveland Clinic Upper Extremity Center," Todd duBoef, president of Top Tank, said in a prepared statement on Wednesday. "As a result of this, Kelly is unable to close his left hand, which prohibits him from being prepared for a Dec. 5 middleweight championship defense against Paul Williams.
"We at Top Rank are disappointed by this unexpected development in his recovery. Once Pavlik is cleared medically by Dr. Evans, we will pursue all avenues with regards to a future bout. We appreciate the understanding of Paul Williams, Goossen Tutor Promotions, HBO and Caesars Atlantic City with regards to this unforeseen occurrence."
Goossen is about as understanding as one can be given the situation, but he's not going to wait around for Pavlik to get healthy. He says Williams will fight as planned on Dec. 5 against an opponent to be announced, and HBO is on board with televising the bout along with a co-feature fight.
"He's going to fight on that date," Goossen told RingTV.com. "Paul's been off too long because of the Pavlik situation and we want him to fight this year.
"We wanted him to fight in September after the (Winky) Wright fight (in April), but the opportunity to fight Pavlik came up. We went into the original date for that fight (Oct. 3) with our eyes wide open, hopeful that it would happen but also hesitantly given what happened with (Sergio) Mora.
"When the October date had to be postponed the fight almost didn't happen because we weren't comfortable given what was going on with Pavlik but we agreed to push it back to December because it was a fight that everyone wanted to see.
"And here we are today. Still no Pavlik. We can't get him in the ring but rest assured we'll find somebody who wants to fight. I've got three or four names that I'm going to pursue for Paul."
Goossen wouldn't divulge the names of the candidates (junior middleweight contender Sergio Martinez is rumored to be in the running) but the site of the Dec. 5 fight, which is currently without a venue, could be determined by who Goossen, Team Williams and HBO agree upon.
http://www.ringtv.com/blog/1236/pavlikwilliams_is_off_williams_will_fight_on_dec_5/
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