KELLY PAVLIK TO FACE PAUL WILLIAMS ON OCTOBER 3

Kelly Pavlik will defend his unified middleweight championship against Paul Williams on October 3rd in Atlantic City, New Jersey.  The fight will be held at a familiar venue for boxing fans, Boardwalk Hall and will be broadcast live on HBO.  Despite some fits and starts in the negotiations between the two sides, they finally came to terms on Tuesday night.  An official announcement of the fight will be forthcoming at a news conference in New York next Tuesday.

Talks had gone back and forth between Top Rank president Todd DuBoef, who promotes Pavlik, and Williams’ promoter Dan Goossen with the primary bone of contention being the split of the $3.75 million rights fee from HBO and the live gate at Boardwalk Hall which could approach $2 million.  Also under dispute was a rematch clause requested by Pavlik’s side.  Eventually, the two promoters worked out a deal for the money and agreed to the rematch request and the fight was made.

DuBoef confirmed to the media that a deal had been reached:

"Goossen and I have agreed to all terms and we are going to contract for the fight. We look forward to a formal announcement."

Goossen also said the fight was a done deal:

"I'm just happy that we've finally come to terms and gotten this resolved. Now we can move forward."

Pavlik will be defending the middleweight title for the third time.  He defeated Jermain Taylor in a rematch, and knocked out his other two challengers Gary Lockett and Marco Antonio Rubio.  Williams, a rangy southpaw, could be his most dangerous challenge to date.  A difficult matchup for any fighter, Williams has fought at three different weight classes in an effort to advance his career and Goossen talked about the stern challenge his fighter will present Pavlik:

"Paul Williams, as we have said over and over, will fight anyone at virtually any weight. This is another example of him willing to take on the best. He wants to take over the 160-pound division."

Pavlik promoter DuBoef also shared his thoughts on the matchup:

"I think it's an interesting matchup. It's a fight that Kelly wants and he's highly motivated for this fight. People have said there is no real opposition in the 160-pound division, but this fight can bring a lot of interest to a division with a rich history."

Pavlik’s co-manager Cameron Duncan commented:

"Paul Williams is a terrific fighter and so is my guy. It's a terrific match and it's good for boxing. It's a fight people are going to want to watch. Williams comes to fight and Kelly definitely comes to fight. It's going to be a really fun fight to watch with lots of lots of punches and lots of action."

The fight got made despite almost no hands on input from Top Rank chairman Bob Arum.  Arum didn’t want to deal with Williams’ manager Al Haymon, due to a hostile relationship between the two men.  Early negotiations for the fight broke down on several occasions due to the strained relationship between Arum and Haymon.