By Mark Vester

Joe Calzaghe is out. Ricardo Mayorga is out. Marco Antonio Rubio is out. Now it appears that "Contender" season-one winner and current WBC junior middleweight champion Sergio Mora is the likely opponent for WBC/WBO middleweight champion Kelly Pavlik. The fight will take place on Sept. 27 at Boardwalk Hall in Atlantic City or Oct. 18 at the Thomas & Mack Center in Las Vegas.

Mora, who recently beat Vernon Forrest for the title, tried to make an October fight against Shane Mosley, but was forced to back off when Forrest exercised the rematch clause from their fight contract, and the WBC was pushing Mora to fight Sergio Martinez, the mandatory to the title. With Mora moving back up to 160-pounds and vacating his title, the Pavlik fight is a good possibility. Jeff Wald, promoter of Mora, is speaking to Forrest and his manager Al Haymon about Mora taking a fight with Pavlik. So far there have been no bumps in the road.

"I think it's an attractive fight," Arum told Dan Rafael. "Mora is better known than anyone else available because of 'The Contender' series and he just won a title at 154, but I have always known him to be a 160-pound guy."

Should Pavlik beat Mora, he would face undefeated IBF champion Arthur Abraham in January/February of 2009.

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