By Mark Vester

One of the major goals at the top of Kelly Pavlik's list when he steps in the ring on October 18 at the Boardwalk Hall in Atlantic City - is to knock Bernard Hopkins out. Hopkins has never been stopped in his 55 pro-fights, and has not tasted the canvas since 1994.

Speaking with Bill Emes of BoxingScene.com, Pavlik did not deny that a knockout of Hopkins is an important goal to accomplish.

"That's a great goal. The main goal is to beat him for twelve-rounds, but if the stoppage comes that's great. That's a plus because nobody has done it to him," Pavlik said.

Pavlik's trainer Jack Loew told BoxingScene that a knockout of Hopkins would send his fighter to another level of importance in the sport.

"[That would be] huge. I don't care what age Bernard is now, he's never been stopped. When we go in there and take Bernard Hopkins out, that will catapult Kelly into superstardom. It's never been done and that's our plan," Loew said.

When the fight was announced, a lot of boxing fans were upset over the selection of Hopkins, who 43-years-old and coming off a close points loss to Calzaghe. Many were clamoring for another name, like IBF middleweight champion Arthur Abraham, or super middleweight superstar Joe Calzaghe.

Loew says that a number of opponents were entertained, but none of the fights came through, leaving Hopkins as the only big-name opponent who was available and willing to take the fight. Although Hopkins is coming off a loss, it was a close split-decision that saw Calzaghe get decked in the first round. The opponent he wanted most for Pavlik was Calzaghe.

"We tried Calzaghe. Abraham has a fight coming up, a mandatory fight. So they offered us Bernard Hopkins. Listen he's a future hall of famer, 20 or 21 title defenses. It's a great opportunity for Kelly to go to that next level. I see it playing out in our favor, obviously," Loew said.

Pavlik agrees with his trainer. He wanted to fight Calzaghe or Abraham, but Calzaghe declined in order to face Roy Jones Jr., and Abraham has a scheduled defense in October against mandatory Raul Marquez.

"There is really nobody else out there. Hopkins still has a huge name. Unfortunately,  Abraham just fought Miranda, and now his title defense has come up. [Felix] Sturm and them, they are doing whatever they do over there. Calzaghe won't take a fight for nothing. This was the only big fight out there and Hopkins still has it, so I think it's worth it," Pavlik said.

The only comparible item between the two fighters are their battles with Jermain Taylor. Hopkins went undefeated for twelve-years, that is until Taylor beat him twice in 2005. Pavlik stopped Taylor within seven-rounds in 2007 and won a unanimous decision in the February rematch.

Pavlik doesn't think there is enough he could take from Hopkins' defeats to Taylor because the fights took place several years ago.

"There's not too much. How many years ago was that? Like four or five years ago now. I don't know, there is not too much that you can take. They are too different styles [comparing his Taylor fights to those of Bernard]. You can take the confidence level off from what I did to Jermain. The main thing is watching film on Bernard. Concentrating on what he did. Watching the film of him fighting Jermain Taylor, take some off the Calzaghe fight," Pavlik said.

Loew on the other hand plans to watch Hopkins' fights with Taylor with great interest. He considers them the most important video footage to watch. The plan of attack is to stay busy. Loew feels that Pavlik's much higher workrate will be too much for the older Hopkins to take.

"I'll go back and watch the Taylor fights for sure. That's the most comparable thing to Kelly. Those are the two fights that I'll look at the most. He throws 27 punches per round and we throw a 100 punches per round. Can he work for three minutes of every round?  And that's what we do. It's going to be his job to adjust to us and I don't see that happening," Loew said.

Some experts see the weight coming into play, as the fight takes at a catch-weight of 170-pounds. Pavlik, the reigning WBC/WBO middleweight champ, will move up by nearly two weight divisions to 160. Loew doesn't see the weight as a problem. Pavlik fought Taylor at 166-pounds in their February rematch.

"We carry the weight fine. We learned a lot from the second Jermain Taylor fight on how to carry the weight and what we're going to do for it. We walk around at 174, 175 so my concern is that we don't get too low," Loew said.

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