By Troy Ondrizek

Saturday’s sequel to last year’s great middleweight title fight between Youngstown’s Kelly “The Ghost” Pavlik and Little Rock’s Jermain “Bad Intentions” Taylor didn’t live up to the original, but it gave the sport so much more than the previous classic. 

The first battle was brutal to the core and had drama, suspense, and a very climatic and definitive finish.  I can’t even tell you how many times I have watched that fight; I can pinpoint the seconds that both men went down and the punch combinations that sent them to the canvas.  Fights like their first meeting are remembered for ages, but it was the second fight between these men that proved to be far more important in regards to their careers and the sport.

In his four fight stint with hall of fame trainer Emanuel Steward, Taylor fought well below expectations.  Steward is the type of trainer that refines a fighter enough for them to be able to shine on the highest level, but quite honestly, in every fight Taylor progressively digressed.  In between rounds you could find Manny vocally urging his charge to fight, but Jermain almost refused at points and much like a five year-old kid, he stubbornly fought amateurishly. 

So when Taylor dropped Steward it really wasn’t a surprise, but was surprising was that in lieu of going back to Pat Burns, the man who took Taylor to the top professionally, Jermain went with Ozell Nelson, the man who took him to the top in the amateurs.  It was with his effort in losing to Pavlik the first time that Taylor finally garnered some respect as a champion, or former champion.  All of such has been chronicled extensively, but few thought the promotion of Nelson from assistant to head trainer would be anything but detrimental to Taylor’s cause.

Consequently, Pavlik has found immense success with Jack Loew in his corner from amateurs to now. Jermain decided to emulate Kelly in this respect and many others in his preparation for this bout.  In the first fight Pavlik made Taylor dig deep, but he didn’t find what he was looking for; it took a search for his roots for Jermain to find his heart. 

I personally had Pavlik by a slim margin in this fight, but I thought Taylor was the better fighter on the night.  While Kelly fought for three minutes a round, Jermain fought for thirty seconds a round.  Those thirty-seconds were effective, but not effective or explosive enough to take the fight. 

Even though he lost, it was a marked improvement from the former undisputed middleweight champion from not just his previous effort, but from his previous six fights.  We saw a smart, strong, thinking fighter in the ring that fought intelligently and with purpose for twelve rounds.  Taylor was able to keep Pavlik’s right hand off his face and effectively countered his younger foe throughout the night.  It was the type of fight we thought we would be accustomed to from Taylor, and we should expect this from him, not be surprised by it.  It was victory in defeat, but I’m sure he would’ve preferred it be just plain victory. 

Taylor has finally impressed us, and bigger fights loom around the corner for the now super middleweight contender.  Mikkel Kessler was very interested in the loser of this bout, especially if it was Taylor.  That division just got some much needed depth and name notoriety in the absence of its champion Joe Calzaghe.  With his performance Taylor preserved his star status which boxing and Jermain needed.   No longer a falling star, Taylor’s future is as bright as it’s ever been, let’s hope it takes him a while to reach event horizon and not have him fall into a black hole. 

For every almost hero there must exist a nemesis that keeps them from reaching deity status.  For Jermain Taylor, Kelly Pavlik is most assuredly this.  Life has been brought back into Taylor’s career as a result of Pavlik’s chin and his resolve, but the first two losses officially attributed to Taylor literally came at the hands of “The Ghost”.  In two distinctly different fights, Pavlik unmistakably put to rest Taylor’s reign at middleweight and further conquered Little Rock’s fistic hero. 

To think that Jermain was the only man to have improved between fights is a bit naive.  Kelly is as blue collar as Youngstown itself.  His style is a no frills consistent determination of power and focus.  The later accolade is the most important.  For the first time in his career one of Pavlik’s opponents lasted twelve rounds.  In that time span Kelly never varied from his jab, kept his hands high in defense, and was always coming forward in spite of Taylor’s right hands and fatigue. 

One could tell that Kelly was in a battle, but not in the sense of back and forth violence.  No, a battle of a hard fought fight that wore just as much if not more on the mental stamina of Kelly’s as it did on his physical.  Its fights like these that make a fighter better.  He learned his limitations against a very focused and game Jermain Taylor and still came away with a close but viable win. 

As I and several others previously touched on, Kelly Pavlik is synonymous with Youngstown.  He personifies the city in every aspect.  He fights like a blue-collar guy ignoring the non-essential crap and just gets down to business.  Some might think that the downtrodden town has nothing to be proud about besides Kelly, but it’s their perseverance and ability to adapt to changing environments that has helped them survive.  Pavlik fought in the same fashion that Saturday night. He was able to adapt to a completely different Taylor and he persevered through some rough spots to be able to break down Jermain.  This attribute will help him to do more than survive; he will flourish because of it. 

No longer known as just a banger, now Pavlik’s opponents have more to think about than just the big right hand.  You know Kelly tried to tell us how he would beat Miranda, how he would stop Taylor, and how he can box.  The kid did exactly as he said; maybe we should start to listen to him.

Saturday’s fight wasn’t what we all expected or necessarily wanted, but it’s what we needed.  It was the perfect fight.  It was dramatic, close, and the decision was suspenseful.  Both men gave us redeemable qualities and while one resurrected his status as a top fighter in the sport, the other cemented his. 

Ironically with Mikkel Kessler looking at the loser of the fight as a possible future opponent, Joe Calzaghe was looking to hopefully face the winner.  Both are big fights in the sport, and everyone involved came away winners, and that includes us the fans.