Sports News

Fighting in front of a friendly crowd in his native Youngstown, Kelly Pavlik retained his middleweight title with a fifth round stoppage of Miguel Espino. In a surprisingly entertaining fight Pavlik chose to go to war with Espino, slugging it out with the shorter man.

Despite taking a few more punches than was probably necessary, Pavlik used his strength and aggression to grind Espino down. Pavlik was brutally effective with short right uppercuts. He put Espino on the canvas twice in the fourth and once in the fifth before the challenger's corner threw in the towel.

While Espino was game he was not a particularly formidable opponent, and probably should have been ranked around fifty or so in the middleweight division. Still, Pavlik was returning from a long layoff brought about by a severe staph infection in his left hand.

Most probably didn't see the fight, which was on a Top Rank PPV card. Pavlik seemed a little rusty but as the fight went on his strength and punching accuracy made the difference.

I, like many, have been critical of Pavlik in the wake of his humiliating loss to legendary champion Bernard Hopkins. Still, it was good to see him back in the ring. He is an entertaining and accomplished fighter. With his health troubles and rumors about personal problems swirling, Pavlik temporary quieted all criticisms by doing what he does best, punch.

Pavlik's middleweight reign can only be described as a disapointment thus far, with just a trio of underwhelming opponents to his credit. If he wants to truly regain the luster he had before the Hopkins fight there is only one name that will suffice.

Paul Williams, the lanky junior middleweight champion was scheduled to face Pavlik three times before Pavlik pulled out with injuries. Both camps are angry with one another, but neither has a fight that will generate close to the level of interest their potential meeting will.

Pavlik's promoter, Bob Arum, seems willing to make the fight one more time. He said of Williams, "We've got a signed contract that is no longer valid, but if they want to fight Kelly Pavlik, all they have to do is initial that contract and send it to me and the first available date HBO has, we'll do the fight like we were supposed to do on Dec. 5."

The only other fight of interest in the middleweight division would be with little known German belt holder Felix Sturm.

I hope they do manage to finally make Pavlik/Williams. Despite the limited opposition on Saturday Pavlik showed the virtues that made him such an intriguing champion only two years ago. A fight with Williams would be a guaranteed war. Williams has boxing ability from the outside, but ultimately always elects to stand and trade.

It's been a long time coming, but now is the time to finally make it happen.