By Mark Vester

According to a recent interview with Top Rank president Bob Arum, if WBC/WBO middleweight champion Kelly Pavlik (32-0, 29KOs) wins his rematch with Jermain Taylor (27-1-1, 17KOs), the next target would be a pay-per-view showdown with Bernard Hopkins (48-4-1, 32KOs) in June.

Arum told Kevin Iole of Yahoo Sports that the original plan was to match Pavlik with undefeated John Duddy in January and then do a rematch with Taylor in the summer. On Monday, Taylor exercised his option for an immediate rematch with Pavlik, now the plan has changed.

A Pavlik-Taylor rematch must happen by the end of February, the next move, should Pavlik win, would be a bout with Hopkins in June at Cleveland Browns Stadium in Ohio, which seats a capacity max of 73,000 fans.

Hopkins, currently at the light heavyweight limit of 175-pounds, would never be able to make the middleweight limit of 160. Arum told Iole the bout would have to be fought somewhere in the mid-to-high 160s.

"From my standpoint, I thought an interim fight (for Pavlik) made more sense and then to go into the rematch, but Jermain had the right to ask for the immediate rematch and he has," Arum said. "The benefit for us is, we can go out and try to make an even bigger pay-per-view fight for June with Bernard. If Kelly comes out of it OK, then a fight with Hopkins at Cleveland Browns Stadium would be even bigger than a fight with Jermain."

Send News Tips and Comments To Mark Vester @ boxingscene@hotmail.com