It was not just another glorious night of boxing at the MGM Grand Gardens. Kelly Pavlik (33-0-0-29 KOs) proved to be the victor against Jermaine Taylor (27-2-1-17 KOs) in front of a sold-out crowd of energetic boxing fans. Taylor, who has a four-inch reach on Pavlik, looked good in rounds 2-5, but Pavlik, who got the drop on him in round one, came back in the rounds 5-11. Pavlik was the aggressor, continuously leading with a left jab, followed by a right. Although Taylor looked stronger and worked hard on breaking down Pavlik with left hooks to the body and an overhand right, he couldn’t quite get through Pavlik’s defenses. At the end of round 12, both fighters hugged each other in good sportsmanship.

Michael Buffer then announced the judges’ scorecards starting with Patricia Morse Jarman who had it 115-113 for Pavlik, Dave Moretti scored 117-111 for Taylor, Glen Trowbridge had it 116-112 for Pavlik, giving Pavlik a win by unanimous decision.

“I put pressure on him,” said Pavlik, adding, “As for being satisfied, there is nothing as satisfied as the first win when I got the title.”

Taylor then stated: “I thought it was close. I thought he won the fight. He caught me with a good one at the end.”

According to Compubox punch stats, 144 jabs were thrown by Pavlik, compared to 132 by Taylor. Pavlik’s total punches thrown were 484, compared Taylor’s 292. In power punches, Pavlik threw 361 to Taylor’s 164, connecting 123 of those power punches to Taylor’s 76.

At this point, Pavlik said he is ready to fight anyone in the middleweight division. Taylor said he’ll go back to the drawing board. He said he’ll come back stronger.

PHOTO CREDIT TO: 
Chris Farina 

TOP RANK Official photographer

2004 BWAA Boxing Photographer of the Year