Arum planning for Pavlik to fight in in June at Cleveland Brown Stadium

From interview with Greg Leon:

GL: Obviously, you've got a guy like Pavlik, who has a lot of hometown fans by capturing the championship. Do you plan on eventually bringing him to Youngstown, building that fan base, and capitalizing off of that fan base that he's sure to have now?

BA: What the plan is, and we're moving ahead with the plan, is a late June fight at Cleveland Brown Stadium, in Cleveland. It's a fifteen minute drive from Youngstown. I think if we do it at the Cleveland Brown Stadium, having that organization behind us, we can put in 50,000 people and have a lot of affordable seats for people in that area, because some of it is very economicly depressed.

 

Cool, I like to see fights take place in cities that we don't often see them in.

 

From David Kolb:

Top Rank is already planning Pavlik’s next fight, which should come at the end of June in Cleveland Browns Stadium, Pavlik’s backyard.

“The Browns have already reached out to us. They want to be a part of this,â€￾ said Top Rank’s Bob Arum.

As far as who Pavlik may fight, Irishman John Duddy is still the frontrunner; however, if that falls through, IBF titlist Arthur Abraham is waiting in the wings for his shot at Pavlik’s middleweight titles.

Arum said, “We really want to face the best middleweights out there. And then in 2009 we’d like to move him up to super middleweight and tangle with guys like (Joe) Calzaghe and (Mikkel) Kessler and guys like that.â€￾

A wild card may turn up however, as Bernard Hopkins has recently shown interest in fighting Pavlik at around 168.

“Bernard reached out and we would be more than happy to accommodate Bernard, but it has to be at a weight Kelly can deal with, like 168. Bernard can’t get lower than that,â€￾ said Arum.

 

It would be awesome if they could pull something like that off and fill up a good portion of the stadium.

What's the last legitimate stadium fight we've had on U.S. soil?




Christy Martin vs. Mia St. John in the Silverdome doesn't count either. :nono:

 

Didn't DLH-Charpentier draw like 40,000 people?

 

45,368

 

That may be it. I forgot about that one.

 

Yeah, he's been saying this since the Taylor victory. Hopefully it happens. He can definately pack the joint. I know I'll be there.

The duddy fight is much more likely, but I spoke with someone on his team and he said that Arum and HBO wanted him to have a few more fights first...which is why they didn't really explore the fight at all after beating Taylor the first time. Then, of course, Taylor used his rematch clause.

Duddy can get two decent fights in there by June...and one of them will most likely be the St. Patrick's day eve fight which will draw alot of attention to him.