Boxing discussion: Pavlik vs. Taylor

[cartman]

There haven't been many good boxing matches of late, but tonight's Kelly Pavlik-Jermaine Taylor bout looks pretty good. Both are undefeated, and there's a bit of bad blood between them. I'm looking forward to this one.

[bosshogg23]

I am looking forward to this fight as well. Hopefully it turns out to be one of the years better fights.

I really think Jermaine is going to outbox Pavlik 10 outta 12 rounds or so. Pavlik is incredibly slow with his feet and hands. If Taylor can jab to keep Pavlik from loading up a big punch then it will be a boring fight, which is exactly what Jermaine wants.

The undercard has 2006 ESPN Prospect of the Year fighting, Andre Berto. He is pretty good and his opponent David Estrada is a step up in competition.

Showtime(which is free this weekend) has Chad Dawson fighting an undefeated guy tonight. Sadly both telecasts start roughly the same time (10 EST and 10:15 EST).

[cartman]

Oh yeah, I forgot to add that is one isn't PPV, it is on regular HBO.

[sabotai]

I'm really looking forward to this fight. I think if Taylor can stay outside, he will dominate the fight, especially since Pavlik stands straight up and comes straight in. However, in his last few fights, he's shown an unwillingness to throw punches. He seems like he's trying to play the role of counterpuncher, which does not fit his style or ability. He should be staying outside and bombarding his opponents with jabs and straight rights, but he hardly does that anymore.

If Pavlik can get him close to the ropes, or catch Taylor napping, he's going to hurt him. I don't think Taylor takes punishment well. He was swelling up against Kasim Ouma, who does not throw a hard punch and is a junior middleweight. If Pavlik can find Taylor, we'll how well he can take a punch.

One thing to remember is that Pavlik has not had a fight go the distance since he was fighting 8 round fights (2004 was his last decision), he only has 3 decision wins (31 wins, 28 knock outs), and he's only been to the 9th round once. He's won his last 8 fights by knock out. He comes to knock people out.

Pavlik might not have the stamina to go the distance, and Taylor certainly hasn't fought anyone with nearly the amount of power Pavlik has. It could be a boring fight (seems like Taylor desperately tries to make a fight boring), it could be a short slugfest knockout, or it could be anywhere in between.

One thing's for sure, I'm very happy this fight is not on PPV. Saves me the $50 I definitely would have paid to see this one. :)

[bosshogg23]

Dan Rafael mentioned that the crowd in and around the casino/arena is very pro-Pavlik. It will be interesting to see how they react to Taylor and how he reacts to them.

For any Arturo Gatti fans, I would expect to at least see him on the broadcast. He was in the casino last night and attends all the big A.C. fights.

[stevew]

Nobody for the re-match?

I thought it was a pretty entertaining fight, of course I would have liked to see the local guy with a knockout. This thing probably played huge in the region, almost everyone I know at work was either going out to see the fight, or going to someone's house to watch it.

[Cringer]

winner?

[stevew]

Pavlik by unanamous decision.

[Calis]

Pretty good fight.

I didn't really expect it to go the distance, so that was a little bit surprising.

I was actually almost rooting for Taylor a bit, I like both guys..they both seem like pretty decent guys and both are fun to watch, but Taylor seemed to be given no chance by anyone.

He just got out-jabbed though. They kept harping about how great his jab was, and he was the way eating them all night long.

Curious to see what Pavlik does by the end of the year, there are some pretty interesting fights out there for him. I'd love to see him fight Calzaghe if(when) he gets by Hopkins.

[Karlifornia]

Pretty good fight.

I didn't really expect it to go the distance, so that was a little bit surprising.

I was actually almost rooting for Taylor a bit, I like both guys..they both seem like pretty decent guys and both are fun to watch, but Taylor seemed to be given no chance by anyone.

He just got out-jabbed though. They kept harping about how great his jab was, and he was the way eating them all night long.

Curious to see what Pavlik does by the end of the year, there are some pretty interesting fights out there for him. I'd love to see him fight Calzaghe if(when) he gets by Hopkins.


I hope Hopkins gets the tar beat out of him. The only thing worse than watching one of his fights is ever having to hear him speak.

[Dr. Sak]

I am actually looking forward to Wladimir Klitschko's fight next week. I am a huge fan of him.