Team Pavlik arrived in Kelly’s dressing room at Boardwalk Hall on Saturday night at 8:45 PM. Several minutes later, Dr. Domenic Coletta of the New Jersey Athletic Control Board came into the room to administer the final pre-fight physical. Everything went according to form until Coletta asked, “Are you on any medication?”

“Yes, sir.”

“What for?”

“Bronchitis.”

“Did you have a fever?”

“Not today.”

“Before today?”

“A hundred and one degrees.”

“What have you been taking?”

Mike Pavlik handed a sheet of paper to the doctor. “Here’s what they gave Kelly.”

Coletta scanned the list. Mucinex, penicillin (one shot on Wednesday night), and ciprofloxacin (500 mg twice a day through the day of the fight).

“How do you feel now?”

“Okay.”




Is it just me or was it a bad thing to go ahead with that fight? This is the first I have heard of him having the flu. A columnist was in the room when this all transpired.

Boxing - Columns - Thomas Hauser