The rematch between Kelly Pavlik and Jermaine Taylor lived up to every ounce of the hype that led up to this fight. Pavlik (33-0, 29 KO’s) failed to knockout his opponent for the first time in his last 10 fights, but he threw far mor punches and had far more quality exchanges this fight than his previous fights. Taylor (27-2-1) came up just short on all three judges scorecards this fight despite fighting a remarkably fight after getting his first career loss in his first match with Pavlik.
Before the 10th round this fight could have gone either way on the judges scorecards with both fighters landing great combinations and having excellent strategy. Pavlik finished tremendously, hitting Taylor with a great power punch in the 11th staggering Taylor and controlling the fight from that point on. Judge Dave Moretti favored Pavlik 117-111 while Patricia Morse Jarman had it 115-113 and Glenn Throwbridge scored it 116-112.
In their first fight Kelly Pavlik stunned Jermaine Taylor with a seventh round knockout victory in Atlantic City last year, claiming the belt from Taylor and quickly becoming one of the biggest stars in boxing. Both fighters quickly agreed to a rematch but this time Pavlik’s belt wasn’t at stake with both fighters jumping weight up to 166 pound, 6 pounds over middleweight, to make this fight happen as fast as it did.
Kelly Pavlik is quickly becoming one of boxing’s bright new young rising starts. The pride of Youngstown, Ohio has a rapidly fast growing fan base and you could here them loud and clear as they packed the Casino arena and drowned out any cheers from the Taylor faithful. The sports of boxing really needs a great young face like Pavlik to get a whole new generation of boxing fans to get excited about the sports. With UFC growing so popular among young kids, Pavlik may be one that can swing them a back into boxing.
Even with his quite calm relaxed persona he shows more through his actions than he does with his words. Pavlik joined his fans in the buffet line the night before the fight and has even been rumored to have slept on the coach in his hotel room in his palatial suite. These kinds of actions may not seem much to you but his humble ways have not gone unnoticed by his fans and critics. He’s hard not to like and with the success he has been having in the sports of boxing I would expect to be seeing more and more of Pavlik dominating his opponents and being the middleweight champion of the world for quite some time.
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