The November 13 showdown between 10-time world champion Manny Pacquiao and former welterweight champion Antonio Margarito took a hit today when it was revealed that former middleweight champion Kelly Pavlik would be forced to pull out of his scheduled 10-round bout against native Texan Brian Vera. Top Rank President Todd duBoef, as well as Cameron Dunkin, Pavlik's manager, confirmed the news earlier today, citing an apparent rib injury that was suffered a few days ago in training.
"I don't know exactly what happened, but I was told by Jack Loew that he had a rib injury a few days ago and might not be able to fight, and then he confirmed it to me [Monday] morning," Dunkin would tell ESPN's Dan Rafael. Pavlik last fought on April 17, when he lost a convincing unanimous decision to current champion Sergio Martinez. His fight with Vera was supposed to be the co-featured bout on the HBO pay-per-view card headlined by Pacquiao and Margarito. No word yet on whether or not a replacement will be found for Pavlik or if another fight will be promoted to the televised portion of the card.
As it stands now, the remaining bouts on the pay-per-view undercard include Guillermo Rigondeaux, challenging for a world title in only his seventh professional bout, taking on Ricardo Cordoba for the vacant WBA interim super bantamweight championship and welterweight contender Mike Jones defending his NABA/NABO welterweight titles against contender Jesus Soto-Karass.