One professional athlete — other than Tiger Woods — who probably can’t wait for the calendar to roll over to a new year is Youngstown’s Kelly Pavlik. The World’s Middleweight Champion has endured a frustrating year in a sport that routinely displays a what-have-you-done-for-me-lately attitude. The year began on a relatively high note. Pavlik, who has held the WBC and WBO middleweight belts since he defeated Jermain Taylor in September 2007, was coming off the only loss of his career. “The Ghost” was soundly beaten by future Hall of Famer Bernard Hopkins in a non-title 170-pound bout. Pavlik (35-1, 31 KOs) decided to drop back down to the 160-pound limit to defend his title. He squared off against mandatory challenger Marco Antonio Rubio February 21 at the Chevy Centre in Youngstown. The title defense went as planned as Pavlik dominated the rugged, but overmatched Rubio. That’s when things took a turn for the worse.