The Jambar

Issue date: 12/3/09 Section: News

Media Credit: Brian Cetina/The Jambar

Middleweight champion of the world Kelly Pavlik hadn't fought in 10 months.

After shaking off some "rust" early, he found himself back out of the ring in five rounds.

Defending his WBC and WBO middleweight titles for the first time since February at the Covelli Centre, Pavlik put former Contender star Miguel Espino down on one knee twice in the final two rounds before his corner made the crucial decision to throw in the towel in front of 3,409 fans Saturday night inside the Beeghly Center at Youngstown State University.

"I'm not going to let any of my guys get hurt," Espino's trainer John Bray said after the fight about what lead to his decision, adding he had to do it after noticing Espino was not making the adjustments he was telling him in the corner in between rounds.

Espino said their game plan coming into the fight was to continue moving to the right while jabbing, forcing Pavlik to back off.

"I didn't stick to the game plan," Espino said. "[Pavlik] wasn't able to back me up so that gave me a little bit of confidence until I started feeling his power in the third round … so that was the game plan, to take him to deep waters and drown him."

Not sticking to the game plan wound up hurting Espino as Pavlik's strong left to right jab and uppercut combinations became the deciding factor in the final three rounds.

Before Saturday's showdown, Espino said he was going to give Pavlik everything he had, and he didn't break that promise - standing toe to toe in the middle of the ring throughout the entire fight against the larger, more superior Pavlik.

Despite losing the fight, Espino said Pavlik wasn't at his strongest; adding that this was the best opportunity to take down the champion and unfortunately wasn't able to do so.

"[Pavlik] seemed a little gassed, and I honestly thought, respectively, I hurt him a few times, and he didn't think I could hit … he thought he could bully me, [and] I don't remember taking one step back," Espino said.

Pavlik said this wasn't his strongest fight because of the long layoff, but he got the job done.

"There was a little bit of rust," Pavlik said. "I tip my hat to him. He came to fight. He was finding his way inside. He was a determined fighter. The kid fought a great fight."

Both fighters traded huge blows throughout the first three rounds and were able to get numerous shots in.

Pavlik's biggest weakness came with his defense, which allowed Espino to hang in early.

Pavlik was able to open the fight wide open after landing a huge right hand uppercut in the middle of the fourth round, which dropped Espino down on one knee for a standing eight count by referee Steve Smoger.

At the end of the round Smoger spoke with Espino's corner to see if they thought he could continue the fight.

The uppercut continued to be the punch Pavlik was able to rely on, and with 1:44 remaining in the fifth round, Pavlik stunned him after landing a big right jab.

"It wasn't the hardest I'd ever been hit, but he did catch me flush with uppercuts, and that's where he dropped me, but I was never, never severely hurt," Espino said.

All three judges for the fight awarded Pavlik each round, and he was ahead of Espino 40-33 on each of the scorecards of judges William Lerch, Jack Woodburn and Steve Weisfeld before the stoppage.

The win was sweet for Pavlik's trainer Jack Loew and the rest of team Pavlik, but heading into the fight, Loew had to coach while a family member was in the hospital.

His brother-in-law, Jimmy Villers had a heart attack ringside after officiating one of the undercard bouts.

Medical personnel and a cardiologist who happened to be sitting nearby helped Villers immediately, who was caught while falling from a chair ringside. They were forced to use a defibrillator and strapped oxygen to his face while supplying him with a saline IV.

It was announced after the following undercard bout that Villers was in stable condition and speaking on his own at St. Elizabeth Health Center.

"It wasn't a good night at the beginning," Loew said after walking into the unfortunate situation while coming out of the locker room to watch the next fight. "From what I understand, he's OK," Loew added according to an article on http://www.espn.com.

For Pavlik's boxing future, he said he wants to fight one of the most feared middleweight fighters Paul Williams.

Pavlik was supposed to fight Williams in the summer of 2008, but according to team Pavlik, Williams never signed the final contract, which forced Pavlik into his fight with Bernard Hopkins.

"Right now, I think Williams is the better fight … that's the fight that I want, and I've wanted since I fought Hopkins," Pavlik said.

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