More than 10,000 tickets have been sold for the bout between undefeated middleweight champion Kelly Pavlik and longtime title-holder Bernard Hopkins in Atlantic City, New Jersey, this month.
Top Rank promoter Bob Arum said on Wednesday he anticipated a sellout for the 77kg fight next Saturday at Boardwalk Hall, where Pavlik has generated a massive following not unlike Arturo Gatti once enjoyed, even with an economy in flux and people becoming more frugal with their spending.
Tickets prices range from US$75 to US$700, with most of the remaining seats in the lower price category. The fight is also being distributed on pay-per-view.
“The response has been enormous,” Arum said during a conference call, adding: “We think Kelly is going to surpass anything he’s done on pay-per-view.”
It helps that there’s a strong undercard, led by a WBO featherweight title fight between Steven Luevano and Billy Dib and a middleweight title eliminator between Marco Antonio Rubio and Enrique Ornelas, with the winner perhaps getting a shot at Pavlik.
But the big draw is Pavlik himself, the humble pride of Youngstown, Ohio, whose exciting style, humble demeanor and fierce loyalty has him on the verge of transcending the sport.
Pavlik (34-0, 30 KOs) has been on a meteoric rise since knocking out Edison Miranda nearly 18 months ago in a middleweight eliminator. Pavlik battered Jermain Taylor — who twice beat Hopkins — to capture the WBC and WBO belts, then won a catchweight rematch with Taylor a few months later.
Hopkins admitted on Wednesday that money is the reason he continues to fight professionally at age 43.
“My motivation is back pay,” Hopkins told a teleconference.
“I’m a late bloomer. The last five years have been a blessing for Bernard Hopkins. But for years I didn’t get a chance to shine,” he said. “If you can do it, if you can do it without disrespecting your legacy, then why not?”
Hopkins forcefully rejected suggestions that he is less of a fighter than when he defeated Trinidad.
“If I’m not the same person that I was in 2001, then I want someone to show that by putting me on my ass,” he said.
While Hopkins dismissed any notion that he’s too old to keep going, former trainer Freddie Roach has expressed concern that “the Executioner” appeared dazed and seemed to wander toward the wrong corner multiple times during his fight with Joe Calzaghe.
He’s likely to be hit much harder by Pavlik, who has an astonishing knockout rate of nearly 90 percent and should be even stronger at a higher weight.
“I know my limitations, I know my body. I haven’t sparred in two days because I felt myself peaking and feeling too sharp,” Hopkins said. “People are going to see an expert at his craft, doing what he does best.”
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