Tonight boxing kicked of 3 months of great fights in EXCITING fashion.
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by Kdark11
In a day of exciting sports action, one could argue that the best performance was on display on HBO. I am talking about the Jermain Taylor, Kelly Pavlik fight. (Colorado over Oklahoma is my close second) No one probably watched the fight with 3 great college football games on. This was the type of fight that the average boxing fan would have enjoyed watching. I have to say that my initial thought was the fight would go 9 rounds and Pavlik would end the fight with a knock out.
I have never been much of a Taylor fan but he showed a side that most boxing fans have not had the opportunity to see. Taylor displayed his power in the second round knocking down Pavlik with some impressive shots. Unfortunately for him with about 30 seconds left it was clear he punched himself out. Taylors last 5 fights were all very bad and I had him losing 2 of his last five. One to Hopkins and the other to Wright. All five fights were with some slick cats and that is the main reason why no one has really seen this side of Taylor. Even in defeat, I have more respect for this guys ability and eventually he will probably be back on top.
Watching this fight I was shocked when Pavlik was knocked down in the second. I thought that Taylor would put him away and that would be all she wrote. But then something boxing hasn't seen in a while occurred. Pavlik showed the heart and courage to hang on and take a beating for about 45+ seconds. Big ups to the official for not stepping in at that point. Eventually 4 action filled rounds passed and I thought we had a close fight on our hands. At this point I thought Pavlik was up 1 round and I could make an argument for Taylor being up 1 round. The bell rang for the start of round seven and about half way through the round Taylor tasted some real power. Pavlik hit Taylor with a sharp left jab followed up by a hard straight right on his chin. This clearly hurt Taylor and Pavlik, like many times before, showed the ability to end the fight. He hit Taylor with two devastating upper cuts and couple solid lefts over the top. This was a great fight that made me flash back to the glory days of boxing to remember a middle weight fight like this. Pavlik is now the champ and will likely have to square off with Taylor again in a rematch and I am ok with this. I think a couple small changes in the Taylor game plan and we have a fight that could go either way.
More importantly, this fight kicked off 3 months of great fights to finish off 2007. In the coming weeks we have Manny Pacquiao (44-3-2, 35 KOs) vs. Marco Antonio Barrera (63-5, 42 KOs). Juan Diaz (32-0, 16 KOs) vs. Julio Diaz (34-3, 25 KOs) square off in a fight that will likely be considered for fight of the year, that is if it goes the distance. These two guys throw bombs. Mikkel Kessler (39-0, 29 KOs) vs. Joe Calzaghe (43-0, 32 KOs) is a fight that any boxing fan has been begging to see. This fight is very difficult to predict and will be great. Shane Mosley (44-4, 37 KOs) vs. Miguel Angel Cotto (30-0, 25 KOs) in a match up that could go either way. Cotto loves to exchange and Mosley is back in the weight class where he was at his best. This will be a great test for Cotto and I can't wait to see this one. Floyd Mayweather Jr. (38-0, 24 KOs) vs. Ricky Hatton (43-0, 31 KOs) finish off the year and will likely be the second biggest PPV draw this year. PBF will dance. Hatton will chase him around and PBF will likely get the decision. I hope Hatton knocks PBF and his ego out. It doesn't get much better than these last 3 months. I hope that all of the disenfranchised boxing fans tune in so they don't miss out on an opportunity to see some great fights.
