Follow along with the video below to see how to install our site as a web app on your home screen.
Note: This feature currently requires accessing the site using the built-in Safari browser.
MililaniBuckeye;1129233; said:WTF?! (can't see the video...Flash is blocked at work)
Hubbard;1129237; said:Come on Mili, you've been around for a few April the first's.....
Rust belt to title belt
By JASON LLOYD, Morning Journal Writer
06/01/2008
YOUNGSTOWN - The gym that raised this world champion is old and tired, just like his city. In a former life, it was a mom and pop pizza shop, and it shows. The building measures just over 1,200 square feet and a coat of red paint makes it look like an old-time schoolhouse.
There is an apartment above the gym. Boxers used to live up there, but not anymore. They destroyed the place. Now they just destroy each other downstairs, where the ring lies flat on the ground in the back and a few speed bags are scattered around in front.
Jump ropes hang across from the pictures. Oh, the pictures. Of Jim Tressel. Of Maurice Clarett. Of the legends of Youngstown boxing.
Anybody who is somebody in the eyes of Mahoning Valley is up on that wall. Including, most importantly, The Ghost. Kelly Pavlik's first boxing picture hangs above the door. There, he's an 80-pound 10-year-old with no experience. Now he's a world champion.
In Youngstown, this city with little hope, Pavlik provides the bulk of it. It's the storyline too juicy to stop writing - the blue-collar town with broken legs, yet strong enough to produce a star who refuses to turn his back on home.
Pavlik ... on fighting, fame and the future
Published:Sunday, June 1, 2008
Kelly Pavlik admits fame brings big changes, both good and bad.
Middleweight champion Kelly Pavlik recently took time out from shopping at Sparkle Market in Boardman to do a 30-minute phone interview with Vindicator sports writer Joe Scalzo, covering a wide variety of topics, including fame, fatherhood and his future in the fight game.
Q. What has been the coolest thing about being famous?
A. That’s a hard question. The coolest thing is being able to do things like be a guest of the team at the Ohio State-Michigan game and hang out with the Indians and the Browns and the Cavs and find out they’re big fans of mine. You walk into the locker room before the game and you’re thinking, “These guys don’t give a [darn] about me.” They’re getting ready to play one of their biggest games of the year. Then they jump up and say, “Hey Kelly, what’s going on?” And you’re like, “You know me?” It’s kind of cool. It’s neat.
Pride of Youngstown: A ?Ghost? Who Didn?t Vanish
Kelly Pavlik, who holds two world title belts, with his daughter, Sydney.
By SEAN D. HAMILL
Published: June 4, 2008
YOUNGSTOWN, Ohio ? Called the Ghost early in his career for his ability to make opponents swing and miss, Kelly Pavlik, this city?s favorite son, has developed into a relentless power puncher with an iron chin. But still, he cannot shake the nickname, which now applies more to his complexion than to the straight-ahead, proficient fighter he has become.
Saw31;1179565; said:Absolute beat down...Give it up for the Y-Town!