Massive underdog Lockett not coming to Atlantic City to roll over

Rafael

By Dan Rafael
ESPN.com
(Archive)

Updated: June 6, 2008

Ed Mulholland/FightWireImages.com

If Gary Lockett is bothered that he's given little chance to dethrone Kelly Pavlik, the Welsh fighter isn't showing it.

Underdog Lockett focused, but so is Pavlik

After middleweight champion Kelly Pavlik defeated Jermain Taylor for the second time in their nontitle rematch in February, Top Rank promoter Bob Arum and manager Cameron Dunkin compiled a short list of potential opponents against whom Pavlik would make his first defense.

After the grueling schedule Pavlik had endured during the previous year, including two fights with Taylor, Edison Miranda and Jose Luis Zertuche, they wanted to give him something of a breather.

The list they compiled included several good fighters, but nobody that would make anyone quiver with nervousness. John Duddy, Giovanni Lorenzo, Randy Griffin, Marco Antonio Rubio and Gary Lockett were all mentioned.

Lockett, who is one of Pavlik's mandatory challengers, was home in Wales and heard the news that he might get the fight, but he didn't get his hopes up.

"There was a short list of fighters and I was also told it was highly unlikely I would come out on top," Lockett said. "Next morning, I was the chosen one."

In the wake of an injury to Duddy, Lockett (30-1, 21 KOs) was indeed the chosen one. He'll get his crack at Pavlik (33-0, 29 KOs) Saturday night (HBO, 10:05 p.m. ET) at Boardwalk Hall in Atlantic City, N.J., site of Pavlik's stirring championship victory against Taylor last September.

In the opener, heavy-hitting junior featherweight titlist Daniel Ponce De Leon (34-1, 30 KOs) of Mexico, makes his seventh title defense against 2004 Puerto Rican Olympian Juan Manuel Lopez (21-0, 19 KOs).

Lockett, knows he was selected because he comes relatively cheap (a purse of just $250,000 compared to Pavlik's $2.5 million) and because he's a 10-1 underdog that few give a serious chance of winning.

But Lockett, a relaxed, affable sort, doesn't seem bothered by it at all.

Kelly Pavlik

Chris Farina/Top Rank

What say you, Kelly Pavlik? The Youngstown fighter is far more comfortable in the ring than he is in front of a microphone.

"I'm 100 percent confident," said the married father of a 21-month-old son. "You can't go into a fight without being confident. We know we are massive underdogs. I know Kelly is a great fighter, but what am I supposed to do? Lay down in the ring? At least if I lose, I lost to a great fighter and a nice guy. But I'm not here to lose."

For Pavlik's part, he insists he is not taking Lockett lightly. The Youngstown, Ohio, hero worked too hard to win the title to yield it in his first defense.

"We wanted to prepare the same as we did for the first Taylor fight, if not harder," Pavlik said. "It's been a long road not to take it serious. He comes to fight and we are prepared."

"He is not taking this kid lightly at all," said Pavlik's trainer Jack Loew. "We are not letting this kid hop across the pond and take it."

If Pavlik was a looking ahead, it would be hard to blame him, especially with Arum talking up a possible fall showdown with super middleweight and light heavyweight champion Joe Calzaghe, whose father and trainer, Enzo Calzaghe, also happens to train Lockett.

A look through Lockett's record yields almost no notable opponents. He points to former title challengers Kevin Kelly, who once lost a junior middleweight title bout to David Reid, and Ryan Rhodes, who once challenged for a version of the middleweight title, as his most significant opponents.

Yet, despite the thin resume, Lockett ascended to the WBO's No. 1 contender position.

"I haven't seen him beat anybody to be No. 1 contender, but no one really knows the opponents he's fought because they're not from the States," Pavlik said. "It's kind of wrong to go by that. He wasn't tested much, but you can still see he's a good fighter when you watch the tape. He did what he was supposed to do to get here. If you take care of what's in front of you, you're No. 1 contender."

Lockett admits he's been frequently questioned by the media about his surprisingly high ranking, but makes no apologies for his position.

"My career has been a lot of starts and stops, a lot of injuries and different things, contract disputes," said Lockett, who's been boxing since he was 8 years old. "I've never been given a chance to fight the best out there. Tim Bradley had never fought anyone known to anyone either and he just beat Junior Witter [for a junior welterweight title]. Just because you have not boxed any big names, doesn't mean you don't have talent.

"The stuff that goes on with [sanctioning organizations] is out of my hands. It's boxing politics. The only thing I care about is I have this fight on Saturday and the opportunity of a lifetime. I'll give it 100 percent and don't be surprise when I win the fight."

Casamayor update

Ring magazine lightweight champion Joel Casamayor's deadline to sign a contract to face unified titleholder Nate Campbell (32-5-1, 25 KOs) in a WBO mandatory fight has been extended until Tuesday.

Casamayor, Santa Cruz

AP Photo/Mary Altaffer

Come on, Casa! We're still waiting for you to get back in there.

The deadline had been this past Tuesday, but the contract sent by promoter Don King, who won the right to stage the fight for a $1.22 million purse bid, was not valid, according to Golden Boy CEO Richard Schaefer.

"The one we received is very vague and does not have an exact date and place. Both of these are conditions of the contract," Schaefer told ESPN.com.

Casamayor (36-3-1, 22 KOs) is still considering his options, which include a potential fall fight with Juan Diaz or Juan Manuel Marquez.

According to Terry Trekas, Campbell's copromoter with King, WBO president Paco Valcarcel assured him that if Casamayor passes, ex-junior lightweight titlist Joan Guzman would be appointed as Campbell's mandatory challenger and the fight would be ordered. Showtime is interested in Campbell-Guzman. If Casamayor does sign to fight Campbell, it would take place in August, Trekas said. HBO has mild interest in that bout.

Cunningham to 'Big Mac': Bring it on

Former cruiserweight titlist Enzo Maccarinelli of Wales told British media last week that he'd like to fight titleholder Steve Cunningham of Philadelphia.

Cunningham had one response to Maccarinelli, who lost his title via second-round knockout to David Haye in March: Bring it on.

Steve Cunningham

AP Photo/Martin Meissner

What does Steve Cunningham say when a potential opponent calls him out? "Yes sir!"

"Enzo's people know that my promoter, Don King, and [Maccarinelli promoter] Frank Warren already had some preliminary discussions," Cunningham said. "Some complications happened to slow things up.

"Frank Warren is going into the Hall of Fame this weekend so he knows what it will take for a classy champion like myself to get me over to United Kingdom. I just want to make the biggest and best fight possible in the cruiserweight division."

Cunningham owes Tomasz Adamek a mandatory fight by the end of September as long as Adamek wins his ESPN2 fight against Gary Gomez on July 11.

If a fight with Maccarinelli (28-2, 21 KOs) was made, Cunningham (21-1, 11 KOs) is familiar with fighting overseas. All three of the world title bouts he has been involved in have been in Europe, two in Poland and one in Germany.

Dan Rafael is the boxing writer for ESPN.com.
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Chavez

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Vazquez

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