Pavlik
Knocks Out Taylor in 7
September 29, 2007
by Hal Clarke
Kelly Pavlik continued his winning ways tonight
at Boardwalk Hall in Atlantic City with a devastating 7th round
KO of middleweight champion Jermaine Taylor. It was an astounding
come back for Pavlik who was dropped hard in the 2nd round but
rallied quickly in the third imposing his will on the tiring Taylor.
After a series of body shots, hooks, and straight rights, Pavlik
slumped forward to the mat with over a minute remaining in round
2. When Pavlik returned to his feet Taylor immediately went on
the offensive. Pavlik, however, tied him up inccesantly ending
the round on his feet and enabling him to get his legs back under
him for the rest of the fight.
Seemingly desperate to end it after the knockdown,
Taylor rushed Pavlik but instead of giving himself room to punch
merely retaliated Pavlik's holding with awkward, winging shots
and lots of holding of his own. If only Taylor had given himself
space and continued the jab, jab, hook, straight right combos
he was previously landing this might have been an early night
for Pavlik. Instead, Taylor showed desperation instead of ring
smarts and let Pavlik escape.
The next few rounds saw Pavlik gaining momentum
as he backed Taylor into the ropes with his longer jab and constant
pressure. Taylor countered well with his jab but failed to follow
through with the combinations he so desperately needed in order
to keep Pavlik guessing. Instead, Taylor seemed content to counter
jabs with jabs until he was backed into the ropes, at which point
he would take a few hard shots in order to give a few of his own,
a bad decision against a power puncher like Pavlik. In the end,
it was Taylor's timidity and lack of offensive aggression, and
Pavlik's undettered will to win that enabled Pavlik to score the
knockdown and referee stoppage with Taylor slumped in the corner.
Pavlik, winning his first major title, may find
his next opponent to be none other than Jermaine Taylor, himself.
A rematch clause guarentees Taylor another fight with Pavlik at
164 if he so desires. But will Taylor press for the fight after
this devastating loss or has his spirit been crushed by the hard
punching Pavlik?
Post-fight a distraught Taylor was beside himself
as Larry Merchant interviewed him from his dressing room. Blaming
his exaustion after the blistering round 2 as well Pavlik's intestinal
fortitude, one certainly has to wonder where Taylor sees himself
going from here. He insisted he would like the rematch with Pavlik,
which will certainly be an interesting fight if it does happen.
However, unless Taylor gets more aggressive the result will likely
prove the same. Only time will tell where these two tough fighters
go from here. No matter, we will undoubtedly be watching with
extreme interest.
My Scoring at the Time of
Stoppage:
| Round |
1 |
2 |
3 |
4 |
5 |
6 |
7 |
Total |
| Pavlik |
10 |
8 |
10 |
9 |
9 |
9 |
KO |
55 |
| Taylor |
9 |
10 |
9 |
10 |
10 |
10 |
- |
58 |
Awesomely insane commentator
Larry Merchant's quote of the evening:
"This must be
a good fight. I've already got 3 drops of blood on my shirt."
Screen Cap from HBO live broadcast used solely
to illustrate the above criticism, comment, and news reporting.
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Want to tell Hal Clarke he doesn't know anything
about anything? Or maybe you agree. Email him at halclarke@undependentmedia.com
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