And the NEW Middleweight Champion of the World… Kelly ‘The Ghost’ Pavlik
 By Danny Serratelli at Ringside (Oct 1, 2007) Doghouse Boxing (Photo © Raquel Gonzalez)
Champion – Little Rock, Arkansas's Jermain ‘Bad Intentions’ Taylor, 27-1-1 (17). Challenger – Youngstown, Ohio's Kelly ‘The Ghost’ Pavlik 32-0 (29).
The Build Up: On paper this fight had all the makings of a super fight that would probably have a hard time living up to expectations. While many casual fans should be familiar with Jermain Taylor because of his two victories over Bernard Hopkins as well as his draw with Winky Wright, it is unfortunate that outside of Youngstown, Ohio only boxing insiders would be familiar with Kelly Pavlik. This fight should have cemented Pavlik's name among the
casual fans, but it still might take a rematch with Taylor to vault Pavlik into the mainstream.
The match up is rare in that the consensus on who would win and how seemed to be split down the middle. It appeared that leading into the fight many people were pulling for the younger fighter with the more exciting style, Kelly Pavlik, while the champion Jermain Taylor seemed to be favored among much of the boxing press.
The questions that that needed answering were: Does Pavlik have the goods and can he deliver them in a fight of this magnitude? Would he be fast enough and fight his fight, a smart and disciplined fight, yet still be explosive? On the flipside, after fighting Hopkins twice and defending his title against three blown up middleweights and barely squeaking out two victories and a draw, how would Taylor fare against a younger, stronger challenger who is a legitimate middleweight?
The Fight:
The fight surpassed even the highest expectations as both fighters started quickly and made a statement. Taylor came out
very aggressively and early on it was clear that both fighters came to fight. After winning the 1st round Taylor hurt Pavlik in round number 2 and forced Pavlik to step up to the plate and show the heart of a champion. After tempting fate on several prior occasions in the past, it appeared that Taylor did not want to leave this fight up to the judges as he immediately moved in for the kill. It appeared that the faster Taylor did an excellent job in attempting to finish Pavlik; however, Pavlik showed that he is an experienced, well-conditioned, confident fighter with a big heart because he survived the round.
Pavlik proved that he belonged in there with the champ when he survived the 2nd round and came back to win the 3rd round. However, Pavlik quickly reverted back to a straight ahead stalking style apparently looking to land one big right hand. While Pavlik was settling into the fight, he was getting out boxed, and he followed Taylor around the ring. The Felix Trinidad vs. Fernando Vargas fight crossed my mind because Vargas was hurt early in that fight but was able to take over the fight in the middle rounds only to run out of gas and get taken out late. Even though Pavlik recovered in the 3rd round, after being beaten up pretty badly in round 2, commonsense said that it had to take something out of him.
As it turned out, the action in the 2nd round may have had more of an effect on Taylor as opposed to Pavlik as Taylor later admitted that he may have punched himself out. Despite the fact that he came as close as you can get to getting Pavlik out of there, the fact remains that he did not finish him.
By the 7th round Taylor looked like he was boxing his way to a unanimous decision victory. Until that point, Pavlik had only landed some decent shots when Taylor fought with his back to the ropes or in the corner. It appeared all Taylor had to do was avoid the right hand that he knew was coming, but in the 7th he got caught. Pavlik once again showed very impressive power and finishing skills just as he did with Jose Luis Zertuche and Edison Miranda. The challenger let his hands go and hurt Taylor prompting referee Steve Smoger to stop the fight at 2:14 of the 7th round.
Pavlik was stalking Taylor all night, but appeared to be predictable as he came straight ahead and it was no secret he was looking to drop the big right. While he occasionally landed some decent leather, it appeared that Taylor rolled with most of the shots and usually always fired back with sharper and faster punches.
Pavlik showed the determination, heart, confidence, punching power and experience of a champion. Without all of the aforementioned attributes Pavlik would not have weathered the storm that he did early and be able to come back to stop Taylor. At the time of the stoppage the Doghouseboxing/Brickcityboxing card read 58-55 for Jermain Taylor. The card mirrored two of the official judge's cards while the 3rd judge had it 59-54 for Taylor.
Referee Steve Smoger did an excellent job of staying on top of the action, but not interfering with the fight. While the fight was just about as close as it could get to being stopped in round 2, Pavlik is an experienced guy who did what he had to do to survive the round. Obviously, Smoger did the right thing by letting the bout continue and not depriving the fans of a fight that will probably win fight of the year.
The Aftermath:
After the fight, Jermain Taylor was very humble and he gave a lot of respect to the new champion Kelly Pavlik. Pavlik explained how he shook off the damage he sustained in round number 2 and continued to fight. He attributed his success to the fact that unlike some Taylor's recent bouts he was in there with a real middleweight and one who throws a lot of punches.
After the fight a lot of people questioned trainer Manny Steward's instructions in the corner. It seems that Steward, Taylor himself and many of the people watching the fight on HBO were under the impression that Pavlik was leading in the fight. From ringside, it is difficult to tell how they were under that impression. While there were several close rounds, most ringside observers were certain that Jermain lost no more than a round or two. It is becoming a trend for fans to put too much faith in punchstat numbers and commentators opinions that are often not totally in touch with the reality of what is going on in the ring.
Bob Arum said that in his 41 years in the business of boxing that this fight was one of his best moments in the sport. It was interesting to hear Arum and Pavlik thank all of the people who have been involved in Pavlik's rise from obscurity in Youngtown to the high point in his career winning the middleweight championship of the world.
Hopefully Kelly Pavlik and Jermain Taylor will now get more press and exposure after engaging in such a crowd pleasing fight. A rematch should be much bigger than this fight and if for some reason a rematch is not made there are many interesting options available for both of the young, talented fighters. Promoter Lou DiBella was correct when he said that boxing needs more fights like Pavlik-Taylor and the co-feature Berto-Estrada. Exciting fights featuring young talent will only elevate the current status of the sport, something that is needed badly.
Undercard
Co-feature: Andre Berto, 20-0 (17), won by TKO at 1:17 of round number 11 over David Estrada, 21-3 (12), in the NABF Welterweight Championship/WBC & IBF Eliminator.
Ronald Hearns, 16-0 (12), won by TKO at 2:42 of round number 1 over Robert Kamya, 16-7 (4).
Heavyweights: Chazz Witherspoon, 20-0 (14), won by TKO at the end of round number 5 over Ron Guerrero, 19-15-3 (13).
Junior Middleweights: Ronney Vargas, 2-0 (1), won by a unanimous decision over Bruce Burkhardt, 0-3.
Light Heavyweights: Omar Shieka, 27-8 (18), won by TKO at 2:25 of round number 4 over Tiwon Taylor, 26-14-1 (19).
Heavyweights: Robert Hawkins 22-9 (7), won by unanimous decision over Terry Smith, 30-3 (18).
Welterwieghts: Carlos Quintana, 24-1 (19), won by TKO over Christopher Henry, 23-19 (17).
Super Middleweights: Richard Pierson, 5-1 (3), won by TKO over Ray Smith, 7-2 (2), at 2:58 of round number 5.
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