Boxing gets a new star, and town gets something to cheer about

The new middleweight champion of the world celebrated by buying some tires for his car. His trainer got up early as usual to spread asphalt on a few driveways.

And the people of Youngstown, Ohio, enjoyed a double dose of good news for a town that rarely has any.

One day General Motors announces it will build a new car at the nearby Lordstown plant, ensuring the economic future of the hard-scrabble area for at least a few more years.

The next, Kelly Pavlik shocks everyone but himself and his pavement-laying trainer by knocking out Jermain Taylor to win the 160-pound title.

“It was almost like someone was writing a script,” trainer Jack Loew said.

If they were, Hollywood would be buying. Inspiration sells, and there’s something nicely uplifting about a blue-collar fighter and his blue-collar town both making it big.

Some 5,000 Youngstown fans followed Pavlik to Atlantic City the other night to watch him take on the previously undefeated Taylor in a fight Pavlik wasn’t supposed to win. Others watched on television, leaving the third shift at the Lordstown plant understaffed for the night.

They groaned and almost couldn’t make themselves watch when Taylor battered their hero around in the second round, sending him to the canvas with a smashing succession of punches. They breathed a collective sigh of relief when he managed to get up, withstand another Taylor onslaught, and finish the round still on his feet.

And they cheered themselves silly when Pavlik caught Taylor with a right hand in the seventh round and the champion crumpled to the canvas.

“I never gave up hope,” Pavlik said. “They all underestimated me but to finally get a shot and take advantage of it is huge.”

So huge in Youngstown that Pavlik and his camp were met with a police escort and a fire truck at the state line Sunday for their ride back into town. So huge that several hundred people attended an impromptu town party on the front lawn of the house where Pavlik grew up and still lives with his parents.

So huge that this working-class hero may be just the tonic boxing needs to continue its rebirth.

“He’s already a superstar in all of Ohio, and eventually will be in all of the Midwest,” promoter Bob Arum said. “Just watch. Just watch.”

Part of what makes Pavlik attractive to even the most casual fan is part of what attracted Arum to him when he turned pro seven years ago after failing to make the 2000 Olympic team. He fights every fight aggressively, never gives ground, and has a thudding right hand that can cause an opponent’s legs to turn to Jello.

It doesn’t hurt that he’s white, in a sport that has always chased the next great white hope. Ironically, though, the color of his skin may have also played a role in slowing his way to the top.

“We’ve had to fight the perception that white kids from the Midwest can’t fight,” Arum said. “That’s not a racist remark, but the absolute perception people from the network had. Three years ago we wanted him on TV and we were laughed at, laughed at.”

No one’s laughing anymore after Pavlik’s dramatic knockout in the early candidate for fight of the year. They’re too busy jumping on the bandwagon.

The local television station planned an hour-long special on Pavlik’s life, the mayor was holding a ceremony at City Hall to celebrate his win, and there was an invitation to throw out the first pitch at an Indians-Yankees playoff game.

A laid-back sort everywhere but in the ring, Pavlik would rather be playing with his young daughter or playing darts than attending functions. He played golf on Tuesday with Loew, who took some time off the business he runs paving driveways to have a quiet moment with his fighter.

“We looked at each other on the course and said we must be the only two idiots who don’t see this as a big thing,” Loew said. “It hasn’t hit either one of us how big this is.”