BrownEyedAngel's blog: "KELLY PAVLIK (BIO)"

KELLY PAVLIK Fighter Bio At the age of 25, Kelly is a seven-year pro. The top contender at 160 pounds, he has stayed active in the ring, made steady progress, and is coming into his prime. He scored the biggest win of his career in his last fight on May 19, a decisive seventh-round TKO against Edison Miranda. The fight was a WBC world title eliminator to determine the mandatory challenger at middleweight - Kelly was ranked WBC No. 1 going in, Miranda No. 2 - and was co-featured on the same card with WBC-WBO and The Ring's world champion Jermain Taylor's title defense against Cory Spinks. Kelly gave a sensational performance and stole the show. After the fight, HBO analyst Larry Merchant said, "The night belongs to Kelly Pavlik. Maybe the future belongs to Kelly Pavlik. And now we have a build up to a fight with Taylor that would be huge, huge, huge." Dan Rafael of ESPN.com reported from ringside, "Expectations for the Pavlik-Miranda eliminator ran high, and they delivered the action-packed brawl people had hoped for between two of the rising stars of the division. But it was Pavlik, the more skilled, more polished fighter, who thrashed Miranda. The seventh-round TKO secured Pavlik an eventual mandatory shot against Taylor, and after his sensational display of punching power and the ability to take a shot, he deserves it. If Taylor runs away to super middleweight or looks to fight someone else at middleweight, it will be because he doesn't want to face the hard-punching and skilled Pavlik." Boxing columnist Graham Houston wrote, "The brutally conclusive seventh-round battering of the Colombian earns Pavlik a shot at Taylor's middleweight title - he has now won two WBC eliminators. Taylor-Pavlik is quite simply the match the boxing industry needs... Pavlik stated his case in a dramatic and dominant way. People in the business knew that Pavlik was a genuine contender, and I think that any scepticism among the general boxing public has been swept away after this devastating display. Pavlik was exceptional in his sheer desire to win. He had made his mind up that he was going to keep punching no matter what came back at him - and keep punching he did." Key Fights 2007 - WBC M WORLD TITLE ELIMINATOR - in his last fight on 5-19-07 in Memphis, TN, he TKO'd Edison Miranda (28-1): the bout was co-featured with the Jermain Taylor-Cory Spinks main event at the FedEx Forum - it was a fast-paced, exciting fight from the opening bell, and very close through five rounds; Kelly started fast - he constantly pressed forward, backed up Miranda, and rocked him with several right hands in the 1st round; Miranda gave a strong effort, as well - he bloodied Kelly's nose in the 2nd round and swept the round on all three scorecards; but Kelly steadily wore him down with body punches, repeatedly rocked him with right hands, and swept the 3rd and 4th rounds on all three scorecards; Miranda was warned for low blows in the 3rd, 4th, and 5th rounds, but rallied in the 5th, rocked Kelly with a number of right hands late in the round, and swept the round on the scorecards; after five rounds, the judges scored 48-47, 48-47 Pavlik, 48-47 Miranda; but Kelly simply overpowered him in the 6th - he staggered Miranda midway through the round with two right hands, then scored a knockdown with another right hand moments later that dropped Miranda flat on his side - he was very unsteady when he got up and spit out his mouthpiece to gain a few extra seconds to recover, for which he was penalized one point; Kelly scored another knockdown with two left hooks moments later that put Miranda on the seat of his pants - he got up again, and the bell ended the round seconds later; all three judges scored the round 10-7 Pavlik; Kelly staggered Miranda with a series of hard punches in the 7th - Miranda sagged and was held up by the ropes, and the referee stopped the fight without a count at 1:54; after six rounds, Kelly led by scores of 58-54, 58-54, 57-55; after the fight, Kelly said, "We stuck with the game plan that we had, and like I said before, the media created Miranda into what he was. A great fighter, obviously, he can punch like a mule, but our game plan was to keep him going backwards, 'cause he can't fight that well going back. We didn't want him to set the pace or set the tempo with them big right hands, and I think towards the end of the fight we started wearing him down and he didn't have much left in him at all. He hit me with a couple of clean punches in the first round, and I think what really surprised him was that I took them so well. A lot of these guys feel my power, it don't look like much on TV, but once they get in there, it's like, 'Whoa, this guy is strong!' I think he felt it from the first round on, also. I think when he seen he couldn't hurt me and he felt my power, that he was really worried. He spit the mouthpiece out, of course, I wanted the referee to stop the fight right there, the quicker the better. But he did a good job, he did whwat he was supposed to do when Miranda went down. Everybody wants to fight the world champion. Jermain Taylor is the world champion, he has the belt, he has the name, and of course I want to fight him."... 2ND NABF M TITLE DEFENSE, WBC M WORLD TITLE ELIMINATOR - on 1-27-07 in Anaheim, CA, he TKO'd Jose Luis Zertuche (19-3-2): it was a fast-paced, exciting fight and a spectacular knockout; Zertuche, a 2000 Mexican Olympian, gave a strong effort and scored effectively in the 2nd and 3rd rounds, but Kelly rallied after that and steadily wore him down; he rocked Zertuche with two left hooks in the 5th round, then scored a knockdown with a right hand that put Zertuche flat on his back late in the 6th; Kelly scored another knockdown in the 8th round - he landed a right hand that froze Zertuche in his tracks, then landed another one that dropped him face-first to the canvas - and the referee jumped in to stop the fight without a count, falling to the canvas with Zertuche, at 1:40; after the fight, Kelly said, "We wanted to box a little more, but the first round, I felt like I was in a little bit of quicksand. Every time I tried to move and get my rhythm going, I just couldn't do it and I was getting caught with stupid punches. By the third or fourth round, I started finding my rhythm a little bit, my balance was a little more fluid and I was able to sit there and counter his mistakes and take my time little bit more. I'm a humble fighter, and he hit me with some good punches. Take nothing away from him, the kid's a hell of a fighter. He came to fight tonight, but I was just a better man at the end. You seen the changes I made and how I adapted. You adapt to the fight, and I think I did a good job of that tonight. Anybody that's in the way of me getting to the world title, I'll go and fight. I'm there for it."... 2006 - on 11-2-06 in Youngstown, OH, he TKO'd Lenord Pierre (18-2): Kelly headlined in his hometown at the Chevrolet Centre, drew an announced crowd of 4,416, and dominated the fight; Kelly scored a knockdown with a right hand late in the 1st round, and rocked Pierre repeatedly in the 2nd and 3rd; Kelly scored another knockdown with a left hook in the 4th round, and the referee stopped the fight without a count at 0:46; after the fight, Kelly said, "I've never hit a guy so hard that didn't go down."; after the fight, Dan Rafael of ESPN.com wrote, "Pavlik is a tremendous puncher... He is one of the sport's bright, young potential stars..."; Boxing News reported, "Pavlik seemingly has the skills and power to dethrone the world champ."... 1ST NABF M TITLE DEFENSE - on 7-27-06 in Uncasville, CT, he TKO'd former WBO jr. middleweight world champion Bronco McKart (48-6): Kelly had the edge in the early rounds, but McKart scored a knockdown when both of Kelly's gloves touched the canvas in the 4th - replays showed that Kelly fell forward, off-balance, after a glancing blow to his shoulder; but Kelly rallied and rocked McKart in the 5th round, then scored a knockdown with a series of punches and cut McKart over his right eye in the 6th; Kelly scored another knockdown with another series of punches later in the round - McKart got up, but the referee stopped the fight at 2:45; after the fight, Kelly said, "I think I ruined his whole game-plan. When he felt my power in the first round, I threw him off his plan. I figured, 'Eventually you're going to get tired and not me,' and that's what happened. We always train to keep the pace. In the fifth round, my trainers noticed he was keeping his elbow up. I just touched him under the elbow and snuck in another shot. I've been doing this for six years, and this was a convincing win. The way I won, it has to open doors, but all I can do is pray to the boxing gods."... 2005 - WON VACANT NABF M TITLE - on 10-7-05 in Las Vegas, NV, he TKO'd Fulgencio Zuniga (17-1-1): it was a fast-paced, exciting fight; Zuniga scored a knockdown with a left hook in the 1st round, but Kelly recovered quickly, dominated most of the rest of the fight, and wore him down; Zuniga was cut over his right eye by a clash of heads, and his corner stopped the fight after the 9th round; after nine rounds, Kelly led by scores of 88-83, 87-83, 87-83; after the fight, he said, "I got it under my belt. He's a pretty strong guy. I know I should have fought from the outside, but you can't always do it. He had sneaky quickness."... Personal Background Kelly said, "I was born and raised in Youngstown. I have two older brothers. They used to box as amateurs, but they don't box now. My oldest brother is the head tech at the kidney center, and my brother Ricky was in the Navy. He's been out for a couple of years. My dad sells insurance for AIG. He also works a side job at Mr. Anthony's. My mom, she works at Vic & Syl's, it's a restaurant. "At the time, I wanted to take up martial arts a lot. I played all the other sports, football, baseball, and I just liked contact. When I was nine, I went down to Southside Boxing Club, where I train now, and Harry Arroyo was in there. [note: former IBF lightweight world champion] I didn't even know it was him until I left. My mom told me. I just kind of fell in love with the sport after that. He was a great guy, funny as can be. The first time I got to go in and spar and actually hit somebody, where in martial arts, you didn't do none of that. I got hit and hit people back, it was fun. My amateur record was 89-9. "I had a lot of hand speed and I was outboxing people then. When I hit 17, the power seemed to really come all of a sudden, and I had more snap to the punches and I was getting more and more stoppages. But I learned those basic boxing skills. I don't have to go in there and slug and rely solely on power. I can box, too."... In addition to Arroyo, Youngstown is also the hometown of former WBA lightweight world champion Ray "Boom Boom" Mancini; Kelly said, "Their careers are an inspiration to me to win a world title and defend it a couple of times. I talked to Boom Boom a lot earlier in my career, and Harry Arroyo I talk to a lot."... Kelly graduated from Youngstown's Lowellville High School; he studied computer graphics at Mahoning County Joint Vocational School, and graduated in 2000... He said, "I'm single, but I've been with my girlfriend for about six years now. We just had a little baby girl. She was born May 11, 2006, her name is Sydney. She's doing new things every day. It's a great thing, but you don't get as much sleep. But her mama's good during training time. She lets me get as much rest as I can. I still like to get up, though, and play around 'cause Sydney don't wake up crying. She wakes up wanting to play and wanting attention, then she'll go back to sleep."... PPV: Pavlik vs. Taylor II WCB: Klitschko vs. Ibragimov PPV: Marquez vs. Pacquiao II Russellt28 says: My prediction still is that if Taylor can't take Pavs out in under 5 rounds. Taylor will simply get tired once again, (he has the case of the Oscars), and will simply start dropping his hands and sticking out his chin as he always does, and eventually Pavlik will catch him. TKO 10 How do you see Pavlik-Taylor going down? 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