25.09.07 – By Matthew Hurley: After his sensational knockout of Edison Miranda on the under card of middleweight champion Jermain Taylor’s defense against Cory Spinks, Kelly Pavlik not only stole the show but emphatically earned the right to challenge Talyor for the title. It didn’t help Taylor’s cause any, or the dwindling support amongst fight fans and media scribes, that the champion sleep walked through his bout against his oversized opponent and once again failed to live up to the great promise he showed before he became champion. In the ensuing weeks Pavlik suddenly became the lightning rod of the division and as the opening bell approaches he may well be the betting favorite by fight night..
The two fighters have a history in the ring as well. In the 2000 Olympic Trials Taylor defeated Pavlik to earn a spot on the team where he would go on to win a bronze medal. Pavlik was only seventeen at the time and while Jermain went to the Olympics Kelly turned professional. The two men would experience markedly different ascents to the top of the middleweight division. Taylor would be groomed by HBO Boxing to be the network’s next big star while Pavlik honed his skills under the radar.
Among boxing insiders and his loyal fan base in Youngstown, Ohio Pavlik was much more than a live underdog in his key fight against overly hyped but hard punching Edison Miranda. Miranda even went so far as to ignore Pavlik during the pre-fight buildup, instead focusing his insults on Jermain Taylor. Pavlik, cool and collected, let his opponent shoot his mouth off, confident in his ability to shut it in the ring. That night Pavlik employed a straight ahead approach, shooting straight right hands behind a disciplined jab and forcing the normally aggressive Miranda to give ground. Once Pavlik established his game plan the fight became his, as Miranda could not set himself up to punch off his back foot. It’s to Miranda’s credit that he hung in as long as he did and helped provide perhaps the round of the year in the fifth stanza. The fight was close on the scorecards after five but then Pavlik took over finally knocking his man out in the seventh round.
Now, “The Ghost” as he’s called, will get his chance to win the middleweight title against the man who beat him nearly eight years ago. The articulate and extremely polite number one contender believes that he has matured into the better fighter of the two since they first met. He also believes he’s the stronger puncher which from a technical standpoint he should be anyway considering that Taylor has regressed into a wide puncher who constantly seems off balance. One would think that with Emanuael Steward in his corner, he who taught Thomas Hearns and Lennox Lewis to set up straight right hand power shots off a crisp jab, Taylor would be a much more economical fighter. Maybe those of us who thought he could become the next big boxing star were looking at him through rose tinted glasses. Whatever the case may be, Taylor still seems to be a work in progress while Pavlik appears to be a near finished product.
Still, no fighter is without his flaws and Pavlik’s biggest weakness going against Taylor, outside of championship experience, is speed. Taylor is markedly faster than Pavlik, in particular when it comes to foot speed. Should Taylor come to realize that Pavlik is too strong on the inside or if he gets hurt, he can fight going backwards or at least appear to fight as he runs around the ring and Pavlik may not be able to get to him.
In the end the fight is intriguing because Jermain Taylor knows he needs a solid performance to answer his critics and he also knows he’s in with a dangerous opponent. He wants to win not only impressively but in the manner of great middleweight champions of the past. The middleweight champion is supposed to be a tough guy not someone who tap dances through a bout against a blown up, pity pat punching welterweight like Cory Spinks. For Kelly Pavlik this is what he’s waited for and should he win impressively there could be big money fights down the road. With his personality and style he could conceivably become the star most of us thought Taylor would be at this point in his career. Look for both men to bring out the best in each other in what could be another candidate for fight of the year.