By Mark Vester
The legends of Youngstown, Ohio are backing the new generation, Kelly Pavlik (31-0, 28KOs), to beat WBC/WBO middleweight champion Jermain Taylor (27-0-1, 17KOs) on Saturday night in Atlantic City.
John Kovach of the Youngstown Vindicator spoke with Ray "Boom Boom" Mancini, Harry Arroyo and Jeff Lampkin, all former champions, about the biggest fight of Pavlik's young career.
Mancini, a former WBA lightweight champion, feels the fight will be tough for Pavlik, and Taylor should not be underestimated.
"Physically it will be a hard fight," Mancini said. "Taylor is a good athlete and he is world champion. So, [Pavlik] has to be patient and use his left hand. He has to stay patient. If he stays, patient he can win. He has to set up [Taylor] with his left [jab] a lot to set up his right. He can't start throwing rights all over the place and leave himself open to counters. Kelly has to fight a very disciplined fight. It is going to be a 12-round fight and he will have to chop [Taylor] down as he goes along. He will have to wear him down over rounds with his strong right hand."
Arroyo, a former IBF lightweight champion, feels that Pavlik's advantage in power will lead him to victory.
"There is a lot of experience on Taylor's part. He has fought champion after champion and he has beaten the best in the world, and unfortunately [Pavlik] hasn't fought many topnotch fighters until lately," said Arroyo. "But, [Pavlik] has the hardest punch of any middleweight that I have ever seen, and if he catches Taylor, [then Taylor] is going to sleep. Power is the most important thing in a boxing. Even if [Pavlik] was hurt and Taylor went after him, Pavlik still could catch him on the button."
Lampkin, a former IBF cruiserweight champion, said that he initially picked Taylor to win, but later changed his mind after watching Pavlik in camp.
"For a minute, I was going with Jermain Taylor. But when I went up to watch Kelly train, I changed my mind and now I think he can take Taylor. He will take him in six rounds if he doesn't make any mistakes. [Pavlik] should jump right on him with his jab. But if he sits back and waits, [he] won't be able to do anything," said Lampkin. "He should be the aggressor and go on the attack using his left jab right from the opening bell. He has a nice long jab that will confuse [Taylor]. Taylor should not be able to come inside. The jabs sets up everything. The knockout will come."
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