By Sammy Rozenberg
The entire town of Youngstown, Ohio came down to the Boardwalk Hall in Atlantic City to witness the crowning of a new star as Kelly Pavlik (32-0, 29 KOs) came off the deck to stop Jermain Taylor (27-1-1, 17 KOs) in the seventh round to capture the WBC middleweight title.
The fight lived up the hype as both guys came to fight with a loud, pro-Pavlik crowd cheering on the action.
Taylor jumped on Pavlik in the first round with power punches to begin at a quick pace. Pavlik began to come back with a longer jab to set up his big shots. In the second, Taylor caught Pavlik flush with a right to stun him and followed up with a barrage of punches to send him down to the floor. Pavlik made it up, appearing to be in serious trouble, and was able to hang on for his life as Taylor tried as hard as he could to finish him off.
In the third, Pavlik came out stronger than before, pushing forward and went right back to work with his long jab and hard power punches. In the seventh, Pavlik caught Taylor with his own flush right and made him wobble to the corner. Pavlik immediately rushed in with big combinations and uppercuts that had Taylor out on his feet and slumping to the floor in a half-conscious state. At that point, referee Steve Smoger jumped right in to stop the fight.
It was a performance for the ages. Few ringside observer thought Pavlik would never make it out of the second round. Even former heavyweight champion Lennox Lewis thought the fight was over when Pavlik went crashing down.
Pavlik, following in the footsteps of great Youngstown fighters like Ray "Boom Boom" Mancini, solidifies his status as one of the best and is now on top of the division.
"It was a tough fight. When I went down I said to myself 'Sh*t it's going to be a long night,' but I showed the heart of a champion," Pavlik said.
There are several possible options for Pavlik in the middleweight division. The always tough Arthur Abraham (24-0, 19 KOs), the IBF titleholder, is a solid middleweight with power in both hands. Abraham earned his elite stipes when won a decision over Edison Miranda in 2006. It wasn't the actual win, but how he won. Miranda broke his jaw during the fight, and many ringside observers were calling for the fight to be stopped because Abraham's face was swollen like a basketball with solid flow of blood coming out of his mouth for several rounds.
Felix Sturm, the WBA champion, has not fully redeemed himself since his knockout loss to Javier Castillejo. He won a close decision over Castillejo a few months ago, and later won a decision over a 14-0 Noe Tulio Gonzalez Alcoba. Even with a rematch win over Castillejo, the luster that Sturm once possessed after losing a close decision to Oscar De La Hoya in 2004 was broken when Castillejo knocked him silly in their first meeting.
The forgotten darkhorse is still Winky Wright, one of the best pound-for-pound fighters in the sport. He recently lost a decision to Bernard Hopkins, at catch-weight of 170-pounds. Following the loss, Wright promised a return to the middleweight division. A Pavlik-Wright collision would make both of them a hefty sum of money.
A trip to 168-pounds, the super middleweight division, is certainly more lucrative. The two big names at the weight are going to collide on Nov. 3 at the Millennium Stadium in England. The ruler at the weight, WBO champion Joe Calzaghe will fight WBA/WBC champion Mikkel Kessler for all the marbles. Calzaghe is already calling Pavlik out for a potential showdown.
Pavlik may have to wait a little while before he decides to map out his future plans. The most likely scenario has Pavlik once again fighting Taylor in a rematch above the middleweight limit of 160-pounds. There is rematch clause that directs Pavlik to fight him at super middleweight. Taylor said after the fight that he will exercise his option for an immediate rematch.
"I want to fight him in my next fight. I can't believe I lost. I used a lot of energy in the second round, too much energy was wasted when I tried to finish him off. I want to fight him next," Taylor said.
On the undercard;
The leading prospect in the sport, welterweight Andre Berto (20-0, 17 KOs), put on a excellent performance in stopping David Estrada (21-3, 12 KOs) in the eleventh round to win the NABF title.
The third and eight rounds were "round of the year" candidates as both men went toe-to-toe with flush power shots. The end came in the eleventh when a Berto floored Estrada with an uppercut that was followed up by a huge right hand.
Estrada was lucky to make it to his feet, but could not defend himself as Berto attacked with more damaging shots that prompted the ref to jump in and stop the fight.
Middleweight prospect Ronald Hearns (16-0, 13KOs) stopped Robert Kamya (16-8, 4KOs) in the first round.
Heavyweight prospect Chazz Witherspoon (20-0, 14KOs) battered Ron Guerrero (19-15-3, 13KOs) for five rounds. The bout was stopped before the start of the sixth.
Jersey favorite Omar Sheika (27-8, 18KOs) scored a knockout over Tiwon Taylor (26-14-1, 19KOs) in the fourth round.
Carlos Quintana (24-1, 19 KOs) stopped Christopher Henry (23-19, 17KOs) in the fourth round.
Mark Vester contributed to this report.